Rescuers who found the body of a diver after he got sucked into a gate valve in a dry dock feared they too would be sucked in when they tried to retrieve the body, a court was told today.

Experienced diver Patrick Joseph Vella died in horrible circumstances on February 28, 2015 whilst working on the underwater mechanism used to fill the dock.

The directors of Palumbo Shipyard, Antonio, Giuseppe and Raffaele Palumbo, Joseph Calleja and Mark Grech have been accused of involuntarily causing the death of the father-of-three.

A member from the Civil Protection Department testified how on the day of the tragic incident at around 12.30pm a call for assistance reached the unit from the Palumbo Shipyard. Members of the department arrived on a dinghy within some five minutes of the call.

Upon diving into the water of the dock, the witness recalled how he discovered the victim trapped after having been sucked into the gate valve of Dock Four.

When divers reached the victim, it was noted that he had lost his regulator and did not seem to be breathing.  

The rescue party decided to tie the victim by means of a rope and pull him away from the gate valve. It took the efforts of some four or five people to detach the body of the victim from the hole inside which he had been trapped. Before dislodging the victim, the underwater rescuers moved away for fear of being likewise sucked into the gate valve.

Two other divers from the AFM also testified that on the day they had conducted an underwater search at the dock. The search yielded a measuring tape which was discovered about two meters away from the gate valve.

The case continues.

Inspector Josric Mifsud prosecuted.

Lawyers Giannella DeMarco and Matthew Brincat were defence counsel.

Lawyer Carlos Bugeja was parte civile.