Almost 18 years after the tragedy, will it finally be possible to understand the circumstances of the mysterious sinking of the Bugaled Breizh? By focusing on this tragedy from this Monday, British justice hopes to be able to give an explanation for the sinking of this French trawler which sank in less than a minute in 2004 off the coast of England, carrying its bottom lines. five crew members.
The public inquiry, scheduled until October 22 in London, nourishes the hope of the families of the five Breton sailors to finally know the truth. From the start, they believe that the trawler sank after being hooked up by a military submarine. This hypothesis could never be confirmed by the French justice at the end of a very long, inconclusive procedure.
Forty testimonials
During three weeks of hearings, the High Court will hear some forty testimonies of sailors, rescuers, maritime experts and soldiers. The families of the victims are also invited to speak at the opening.
On January 15, 2004, the Bugaled Breizh (“Children of Brittany” in Breton), a trawler from Loctudy in Finistère, sank in less than a minute in rather good weather conditions, off Cornwall in the southwest. from England. The crew had been swept away by the bottom. The boat sank in an area where NATO and Royal Navy military exercises were planned, involving submarines.
Clarify the causes without condemning
Only the bodies of Patrick Gloaguen, Yves Gloaguen and Pascal Le Floch were found: the first in the wreck during its refloating, the other two in English waters. It is also on the death of the latter two that the British investigation is focused. Georges Lemétayer and Eric Guillamet were on the other hand reported missing at sea. The objective of the procedure in the United Kingdom is to clarify the causes of death, without however pronouncing any convictions.
“The London justice devotes three weeks of hearing to this case, it will get to the bottom of things and never the hope of the families, who have never given up, has been so great”, confided Dominique Tricaud , lawyer for the children of Georges Lemétayer. In a column published by the newspaper The world, Gaspard de Monclin, lawyer for the families of victims, for his part denounced the lack of cooperation of the various governments involved and demanded the lifting of the secrecy surrounding NATO’s maneuvers.
A long-awaited testimony will be that, on October 12, of the former commander of the British nuclear submarine HMS Turbulent, Andrew Coles, a vessel suspected of having played a role in the sinking. But so far the UK Ministry of Defense and the Royal Navy have denied any involvement of a British submarine.