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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (10070)	12/17/1999 12:28:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

French court denies bail to Indian Ship Captain of Tanker Erika Posted December 17, 1999 Paris, December 17: A French court has refused bail for the Indian captain of the ill-fated Erika tanker, which sunk off the French coast on Sunday, while detaining three other Indian crew members for further investigation, sources said on Friday. French authorities formally charged Captain Kirun Mathur Sundar of the Erika tanker in a Paris court on Thursday for "endangering the lives of the crew members and for causing maritime pollution". The judge refused to grant bail to the 36-year-old Mathur, who hails from Jaipur in Rajasthan and was shifted to a prison in the suburbs of Paris. "Three other Indian crew members have been asked not to leave the country and they are now staying in a hotel under police watch in the western town of Brest," the sources said. The 25-year-old Maltese-registered tanker, owned by Italy?s Panship management, broke into two off the French coast while sailing from the northern French port of Dunkirk. An estimated 10,000 tonnes of fuel-oil from the tanker spilled into the sea which is threatening to reach the French coast in a week's time. All the 26 Indian crew of Erika were saved from rough seas by French and British naval vessels under trying conditions on Sunday. While 22 crew members returned to India on Thursday, the remaining four, including the captain, are under investigation. French officials say the 19,666-tonne tanker was carrying 30,000 tonnes of fuel oil, before breaking into two 120 km south of Brest towards the Bay of Biscay. The tanker was carrying the oil of French company Totalfina to the Italian port of Leghorn. Sources said French authorities also refused consular access to the arrested Indian captain. Despite repeated attempts by senior Indian officials the court as well as the jail authorities did not allow them to see him in the prison. Maritime experts here, however, have questioned the validity of French investigation as the break-up and sinking of the Erika took place in international waters and the local court was considered not to have jurisdiction to deal with the case. Meanwhile, the Association Francaises Des Capitaines De Navires (ship masters association) has criticised the arrest of the ship captain. The association said the captain of Erika should have been treated in a better manner and not like a criminal. First of all the captain should not have been arrested as he is only an employee of the ship company, the association officials said. Sources claimed that the captain already had an ordeal at the high seas under biting cold and storm and he was the last person to leave the ship and his timely action saved the lives of the crew members. "We were surprised by the denial of bail as even the prosecutor had asked for Mathur to be kept only under judicial supervision," the sources claimed.