This will not ease the pain of the families, still in search of the truth. The latter may, however, keep pieces of the wreckage of the Bugaled Breizh, this Breton trawler which sank with five fishermen in 2004 in the south-west of England, we learned on Wednesday from a source familiar with the matter. “The dismantling work will most likely take place during the so-called spring school holidays, i.e. in the second half of April,” writes Rennes Attorney General Frédéric Benet-Chambellan, in an email to family lawyers.
In his message, the magistrate invites the victims and their families “who would like to recover one or more pieces” to let him know “quickly, knowing that it is imperative that they agree among themselves”. “No one having ‘superior rights’ to others, I cannot decide myself in the event of a claim for the same object by several people”, underlines the Attorney General. The family of the shipowner Michel Douce thus asked to recover the anchor and the steering wheel, while the association SOS Bugaled asked to keep the propeller, the boat’s name painted above the gangway, the winch handles, the hull number painted on the sheet metal and about 20 pieces of the hull, according to an email exchange.
“We will continue to seek the truth”
In his response to the magistrate, Me Dominique Tricaud, lawyer for the families, also asks for the organization of a “memorial ceremony” on the site on Saturday April 8. Thierry Lemétayer, whose mechanic father died in the accident, spoke of “a kind of farewell” in “homage to the five missing sailors”. But “we will continue to seek the truth,” he warned.
French justice dismissed the case while British justice found a fishing accident. For the relatives of the victims, the Bugaled Breizhregistered in Guilvinec (Finistère), was sent to the bottom by a submarine which got caught in its fishing gear.