French release fishing tragedy ship on bail

Monday 23rd January 2006, 12:00AM GMT.

A FRENCH court has released on bail of 1.5 million euros the cargo ship suspected of ploughing into a Normandy fishing vessel off Alderney and killing five men.

The Sichem Pandora, a 9,200-ton chemical carrier, is thought to have collided with the French longliner Kleine Familie on 5 January as the six-man crew fished between busy shipping lanes.

Five men died in the tragedy, leaving 11 children aged between three and 13 with no fathers.

French authorities have said the Maltese-registered chemical-carrying cargo ship is their prime suspect.

The ship did not stop and its crew have said they were not aware that there might have been a collision.

They are reported as saying they saw a light, but received no sonar or radio signals and therefore thought it was a buoy.

However, paint similar to that on the hull of the fishing boat was found on the ship’s starboard bows.

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