An inquiry conducted following a collision between a yacht and a boat off Marsamxett has concluded that the incident could not have been avoided.
An 81-year-old man, Joseph Gatt, died when he fell off 14-foot boat after collision with the yacht Sorcery on July 12. His boat sank. Autopsy results two days later revealed that the cause of death was “asphyxia due to drowning”.
The Transport Ministry had commissioned Dr George Said to draw up a report.
The report found that “from the evidence (...) gathered during the course of (the) preliminary inquiry and from the technical advice (...) given together with the medical reports received, it would seem that all the physical circumstances combined together made this incident very difficult for all of the parties concerned to avoid”.
Dr Said found that the incident could not have been avoided.
He therefore did not made any recommendations on any further action but concluded that he did “not see any added value in conducting a formal investigation in terms of the Merchant Shipping Act”.
Dr Said made a number of recommendations to improve safety in Grand Harbour and Marsamxetto Harbour.
Transport Minister Austin Gatt has referred these recommendations to Transport Malta for implementation.
The ministry said the report was not being published in view of the fact that it contained personal details of the persons involved in the incident, particularly the man who died.
Following the incident, Mr Gatt's family filed a judicial application against the police commissioner complaining that he had not taken action against the yachtsman.
Mr Gatt’s widow Josephine Gatt Baldacchino and the couple’s children Carmen, Martin, Joseph and Isabelle said that yachtsman John Zarb sailed his yacht over Mr Gatt’s body.
The family said the incident was investigated by the police, an inquiry was opened but even though a man was killed and the police knew who had committed the manslaughter they still did not take any action against Mr Zarb.
Mr Zarb in a subsequent statement denied negligence and denied having “literally kept on going over” Mr Gatt while in the water, as had been claimed.
“The implication of this extremely serious and untruthful statement is that Mr Zarb was negligent, resulting in the death of Mr Gatt Baldacchino. Nothing could be farther from the truth,” his lawyer, Ann Fenech, said.
She said that on that fateful morning her client exercised all due diligence, prudence, care and attention, paying full regard to all rules and regulations.
“Notwithstanding, this unfortunate accident occurred, the full details of which will hopefully emerge following the conclusion of the reports of the two inquiries,” a magisterial inquiry and a preliminary investigation under the Merchant Shipping Act.
Dr Fenech said she was “extremely surprised” by the application because such action was only taken when the police refused to institute proceedings. In fact, she added, there was no evidence that the police refused to take action because investigations had not been concluded yet.
“In addition, the events as they occurred point towards the fact that this was an unfortunate accident at sea with no criminal liability or responsibility on the part of Mr and Mrs Zarb.”