AFM clarifies that yacht that rammed boat was returned to owner by court expert

Questions were raised on the thoroughness of a court expert’s inquiry into the boating incident that saw the s/y Sorcery ram into a boat, killing 81-year-old John Gatt Baldacchino, today by union newspaper l-orizzont.

Gatt Baldacchino, from Sliema, died earlier this Monday from drowning after the Sorcery, manned by its owner John Zarb from San Pawl tat-Targa, rammed it. An autopsy determined Gatt Baldacchino died asphyxiated after swallowing too much water.

L-orizzont reported that the AFM reportedly allowed Zarb – a senior partner in the PricewaterhouseCoopers firm – to regain possession of the yacht a few hours after the incident, and before the cause of death was established in the autopsy. But the army said the yacht was held at the Haywharf Base pending the inspections for the preliminary investigations, which are still underway, by both the Police authorities and the appointed magisterial court-expert.

“The yacht was released from the military base upon instructions issued by those appointed to conduct these said investigations,” an army spokesperson said.

Speculation now abounds on the thoroughness of the court expert’s inquiry: whether checks on the boat – a 10-year old Oyster 53 valued at some €660,000 – included inspections of the navigation instruments and the engine’s functioning. Central to these questions is the fact that the yacht – an article of evidence – was actually released back to the owner after just two days.

The incident has prompted another inquiry, this time launched by the transport ministry, and led by expert maritime lawyer George Said.

John Zarb wrote in to The Times via his lawyer John J. Vella, to state that he and his boat were not on their way back from Italy as first reported, but were on their way to Marsamxett from their berth in Portomaso. “The emergency call was sent out after the accident by the client’s vessel. Mr Zarb and his wife tendered immediate assistance to the person on the other boat, supporting him afloat until AFM personnel appeared on the scene. None of this, of course, diminishes the loss suffered by the deceased’s family.”

Gatt Baldacchino was fishing around half a kilometre off Tigné on the Grand Harbour side when the sailing boat crashed into his boat throwing him into the sea. The accident happened at around 10am and the AFM were notified when another vessel issued an emergency call via VHF radio. The patrol boat Melita 2 was dispatched immediately and by 10:20am the man was already on his way to hospital in the ambulance.

He died almost an hour later in hospital after being picked up from the sea by an Armed Forces patrol boat that took him to a waiting ambulance at the maritime squadron base in Pietà. The elderly man’s boat was crushed by the impact and sank. Army divers were trying to locate it on the seabed.