The captain of a fishing vessel which sank off Agde (Hérault), causing the death of two brothers he employed, was sentenced on Monday by the Béziers criminal court to four years in prison, including two suspended, in accordance with the prosecution's indictment.
This 61-year-old man was also ordered to pay a fine of 50,000 euros, the confiscation of 25,580 euros seized from his bank account and a ban on exercising the profession of fishing master for five years.
On the night of November 29 to 30, 2020, his ship, the "
Romain Luca
", was shipwrecked and only the captain could be rescued.
At the hearing on November 28, where he appeared for "
manslaughter by the manifestly deliberate violation of obligations of safety or prudence in the context of work
", the latter had assured that he had done everything to save his two sailors, who were attached to the hull but "
did not resist
".
Read alsoA fisherman will be tried for a shipwreck in which two of his employees had perished
From the start, the investigators had highlighted certain irregularities: the navigation permit only authorized two people on board and the wreckage had been found well beyond the 5-mile threshold that the vessel was not allowed to exceed.
The captain refrained "
from alerting the emergency services when the circumstances
demanded it", did not ask his fishermen, two brothers aged 23 and 33, one of whom was not declared, to put on their work clothes with integrated buoyancy and did not launch the life raft, had detailed during the referral to correctional the prosecutor of Béziers, Raphaël Balland.
“
It's an extremely heavy decision in a dramatic case for everyone, which does not take into account that it was really an accident.
The court considered that my client should have immediately understood the consequences of this waterway when the experts took weeks to understand
, ”reacted on Monday the lawyer for the fishing boss, Guillaume Tarin, who had pleaded relax her.
"
We will reflect to see if we appeal
," he added.
“
The judgment is not harsh enough.
My children still do not understand why their father died and I have no answer to give them
,” the widow of one of the two deceased sailors told AFP.