2024-01-12 21:10:17
It is one of the darkest mysteries and legal failures of recent decades. From this Friday and until Monday, a large number of those involved in the Bugaled Breizh case, specialists, lawyers and especially families, loved ones and seafarers will commemorate in Bigouden country the 20th anniversary of the shipwreck which took away five sailors raw at the bottom of the water, in more than suspicious circumstances,
The commemoration of the tragic sinking of the Bugaled Breizh which began this Friday, in Pont-l’Abbé and will continue for D-Day, this Monday, in Loctudy, the boat’s home port, will give rise to conferences, exhibitions, meetings , film screenings and debates… It is also the opportunity for Pascal Bodéré, journalist and deputy editor-in-chief of Le Télégramme, to dedicate his graphic novel “Bugaled Breizh: the investigation” (published by Le Télégramme).
Considered an expert on the subject, the author carried out in-depth investigations on the subject for 20 years in parallel with his articles in the regional daily. On January 15, 2004, the Bugaled Breizh (“Children of Brittany” in Breton), a trawler from Loctudy (Finistère), mysteriously sank, in 37 seconds, off the coast of Cape Lizard. The five professional fishermen on board, Yves Gloaguen, Georges Lemétayer, Pascal Le Floch, Patrick Gloaguen, Éric Guillamet, did not survive the sinking. Three bodies will be found in the French zone and the other two in the British zone.
The possibility of a collision with a Philippine cargo ship was first raised: a false lead as was verified after the refloating of the ship. Symmetrical sinking of the port and starboard sides of the hull, implosion of the hold… In view of a number of elements, the civil parties think of an encounter with a submarine. The French Navy eventually revealed that a European military exercise, Aswex04, was to be held in the area on January 16, but denied any involvement of its ships.
Un thriller maritime
“There was then a new revelation,” recalls Pascal Bodéré. We learned that the Royal Navy was also preparing a military exercise on the same day, Thursday War. » The English submarine HMS Turbulent then surfaces in the file. It returned damaged to its home port of Devonport in Cornwall on January 16, 2004. In 2008, the Quimper prosecutor’s office concluded that it was a “fishing accident”, but was contradicted by two judges.
A major legal expert, Rear-Admiral Dominique Salles (a Brestois, moreover), himself a former submarine commander, raises another possibility, and still does not budge. “I say it again: it is highly probable that a submarine was at the origin of the sinking of the Bugaled Breizh and this submarine can only be a nuclear attack submarine (SNA)”, confided to us -he again in 2019, during one of the last chance trials for the civil parties, in Quimper. British justice in turn concluded in 2021 that it was a fishing accident.
“When I took charge of this affair, being, moreover, from Loctudy, I did not imagine that we would still be talking about it 20 years later,” slips Pascal Bodéré between two signing sessions. It has remained a common thread throughout my career. I did some investigative work which allowed me to explore all the avenues of this sprawling case. This is what I try to convey in the book, while trying to remain mainstream, to popularize it a little, and by writing it a bit like a maritime thriller. »
The author and journalist will be present this weekend, and can be met during a presentation of the book and a signing session on Monday 15 in Loctudy, the precise and fateful date of the shipwreck, there is 20 years. “These days are made to remember the guys from Bugaled,” concludes Pascal Bodéré gravely. Five Breton fishermen were lost… and we still don’t know why. It is a legal failure that remains in the throat. These days are there to tell families that the Bretons and seafarers do not forget them, and that we do not neglect the dangerousness of the profession.”
Four days of remembrance are organized at the Le Triskell cultural center, in Pont-l’Abbé (Finistère), on January 12, 13 and 14, 2024 and in Loctudy, on January 15. Entry at 2 euros which will be donated to the Caisse des Péris en Mer and the SNSM of Loctudy).
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