Their names were Quentin Varin, Jimmy Gilbert and Steven Gibert. These three sailors died in 2021 during a towing operation of their trawler, which suddenly sank. Three years after this tragedy which shook the entire fishing community, the maritime court of Le Havre (Seine-Maritime) delivered its conclusions. According to the judges, the captain of the SNSM who officiated that night is not responsible for the tragedy. He was released, as were the DDTM officials and the maritime expert who had been indicted. Only the co-owner and operator of the trawler was found guilty and sentenced to eighteen months in prison.
It was a cold January night. While fishing for scallops off the coast of Port-en-Bessin, in Calvados, Quentin Varin, the boss of the Breiz, call for help. Victim of rudder damage, his trawler no longer responds. Towed by an SNSM boat from Ouistreham, the ship sank in the middle of the night during the operation, taking the skipper and the two brothers who served as sailors.
They had neither certificate nor proper crew
This Tuesday, the court ruled that none of the sailors had the required certificate and that the Breiz had taken to the sea with a non-compliant crew, also equipped with dredging poles for shellfish fishing that were heavier than the navigation license authorized.
The court, however, did not follow the requisitions of the public prosecutor, who had requested, on April 4, the conviction of the boss of the lifeboat to a suspended prison sentence of one year, accompanied by two years navigation ban. “We were convinced that he [le patron du canot de sauvetage] had not committed any fault. There remain big questions about the criminal liability of volunteer rescuers when they carry out interventions intended to save people, trying to do what they can,” commented Bertrand Hudault, general inspector of the National Sea Rescue Society ( SNSM).
The latter still says he is “worried” about the criminal risk incurred by volunteer rescuers.