The families of five French fishermen who died in 2006, after an alleged collision between their fishing vessel and a Malta-flagged cargo ship, are urging the French government to pressure Malta into concluding an enquiry into the incident, without which it would be difficult for them to sue for damages.
The issue was raised by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon in his recent visit to Malta, both with Maltese government during a one-hour round-table discussion at Castile Palace on Thursday 8 May, and also with the media in the subsequent press conference.
On that occasion, a senior Department of Information official prevented MaltaToday, among other news media, from asking any questions.
In 2006, the Klein Familie sank under mysterious circumstances off the Alderney coast in the English Channel. Maltese-registered cargo ship Sichem Pandora is thought to have been in the area where the Klein Familie disappeared. The chemical carrier was on its way from Tunisia to The Netherlands, when it was escorted to Dunkirk and impounded by French Maritime Police, pending criminal investigations.
French authorities claimed the Klein Familie had probably been involved in a collision, and according to French sources, the Maltese ship had a dent on its keel corresponding to damage identified on the wreck of the French fishing vessel by a military submarine.
However, the Maltese ship’s owners Tesma Holding denied allegations that it had crashed into the Klein Familie, and then sailed on without offering assistance to the stricken crew.
The incident was at first subject to an inquiry by French maritime authority BEAmer, but Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici confirmed with MaltaToday that the Malta Maritime Authority was asked to take over investigations.
“The Maltese authorities were requested to take over the investigation by the French authorities, after the latter had initially commenced investigations,” he said. “I confirm that it is the wish of the Government of Malta that all proceedings, including this one, are concluded at the earliest opportunity.”
The mysterious incident is currently the subject of two separate local inquiries: a magisterial inquiry entrusted to Jacqueline Padovani Grima, and a routine internal investigation carried out by the Malta Maritime Authority under the terms of the Merchant Shipping Act.
Mifsud Bonnici added that the former investigation is particularly complex because it concerns facts that took place outside Malta’s territorial jurisdiction, and therefore most of the evidence is located outside Malta.
“I have no doubt that the magistrate is conducting the investigation with due expeditiousness in consonance with the complexity of the investigation,” he said.
An MMA spokesman has informed MaltaToday that the authority’s internal inquiry cannot be concluded until the magisterial inquiry is finalised first. For this reason, MMA was unable to submit a report to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), as per standard practice. A spokesman for the IMO in fact told MaltaToday that no report relating to Klein Familie or Sichem Pandora is listed in its incident register.
This delay appears to have prompted the family members of the Klein Familie victims to raise the matter with the French government, which in turn brought it to the attention of the Maltese foreign office.
Foreign minister Tonio Borg confirmed that the issue was discussed between the Prime ministers of the two countries during Fillon’s recent visit.
“The French PM expressed the wish that the inquiry be concluded at the earliest opportunity; this is also the view of the Maltese Government,” Borg said. “The French PM made it clear that he knows that the matter is in the hands of the judiciary and not the executive.”
Borg added that the magisterial inquiry is not an action relating to damages, “although its findings will undoubtedly be used by owners of vessel and/or victims of incident, according to its conclusions, in any possible future litigation.”

rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt