2023-04-18 16:26:00
Lhe dismantling of the Bugaled Breizh started on Monday at the Brest naval base, nineteen years after the mysterious sinking of the Breton trawler, which had cost the lives of five sailors.
“It’s a site charged with emotion and we pay very special attention to it,” said Pierre Rolland, president of Navaleo, the company in charge of the deconstruction site, on Tuesday.
The construction site started on Monday with the securing of the site and should last five days. “The pieces of steel will be transported to our site at the port of Brest to be recycled in a French foundry”, detailed Mr. Rolland.
Placed under seal by the courts, the wreck had been installed at the Brest naval base since July 2004, where it was part of the landscape for many sailors.
With the end of the French and British judicial investigations, the public prosecutor of Rennes had decided to proceed with its dismantling.
A dozen parts of the boat, including the cap with the name “Bugaled Breizh”, will be given to the shipowner and the SOS Bugaled association after the dismantling.
During a private ceremony organized in front of the wreckage on April 8 with the families of the victims, “we have already been able to proceed with the delivery of some objects”, explained to AFP Christophe Monnier, legal expert at the court of appeal from Rennes and project management assistant for the public prosecutor.
A penknife and a coffee percolator were given to the families. “It’s silly a coffee percolator, moreover in poor condition… But it’s still the place where the whole crew meets several times a day, it’s an element of life. And it You have to understand that in 2004, at the time of the event, life suddenly stopped in a few seconds”, described Mr. Monnier.
The 24-meter vessel sank in one minute at a depth of 80 m on January 15, 2004, while fishing off Cape Lizard (Cornwall).
French justice dismissed the case while British justice found a fishing accident.
For the relatives of the victims, the Bugaled Breizh, registered in Guilvinec (Finistère), was sent to the bottom by a submarine which was caught in its fishing gear. Because at the same time a NATO military exercise was taking place in the sector involving several European and American submarines.
04/18/2023 16:25:12 – Brest (France) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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