Court expert conducted two-hour inquiry on sailing yacht in boating incident

Yesterday the Armed Forces of Malta had to clarify that it was not involved in the decision to release a sailing yacht involved in a fatal boating incident this week, back to its owner John Zarb.

Questions were raised on the thoroughness of the 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 last 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.

But according to reports in l-orizzont, court expert Dr Joseph Zammit went aboard the s/y Sorcery to conduct his preliminary investigation at 1:15pm and 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.

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 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.

Zarb was reported to have thrown a lifebuoy to the Gatt Baldacchino and that his wife Nadja Zarb jumped into sea, swimming to Gatt Baldacchino and even managing to get him close to the yacht. But the man was to heavy to lift into the yacht. No mention of this attempt to save Gatt Baldacchino's life was mentioned in the official statement by the AFM on the incident.

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.