Sinking of the "Bugaled Breizh": British justice concludes a "fishing accident"

The wreck of the Breton trawler “Bugaled Breizh”, placed on a barge and pulled by an ocean-going tug, headed on July 13, 2004 towards the military port of Brest to be put in dry dock for appraisal.

FRED TANNEAU ARCHIVES / AFP

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1 min

British justice delivered its conclusions this Friday afternoon on the sinking of the

.

The French trawler which sank off Lizard Point in the southwest of England in January 2004, killing the five sailors on board.

The submarine thesis was not accepted.

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With our correspondent in London,

After three weeks of hearings in October, Judge Nigel Lickley delivered his findings to the High Court in London: the sudden sinking of the

17 years ago off the coast of Cornwall is linked, he said. said, to a "fishing accident".

This was not the conclusion expected by the families of the five victims.

Experienced fishermen, who sailed in usual weather conditions for the month of January.

Their relatives support the thesis of a collision with a submarine.

Justice notably heard from the commander of a Royal Navy submersible, the

, but he assures us that he was docked that day and therefore could not have hit the Breton boat.

The hope of a remedy for families

British proceedings, a public inquiry, could not lead to any conviction.

But the families hoped that it could reveal new elements, likely to fuel a reopening of the case in France, five years after a

.

They now have the hope of an appeal to British justice.

► To read also: Sinking of the "Bugaled Breizh": British justice is trying to shed light

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