
Alessandro DP
Officers of two ships, a Syrian captain and a Filipino chief officer have been charged in Bulgaria following a collision in the Black Sea this week. Their documents have been seized, reports the Sofia News Agency Novinite.
The Syrian captain of the Karam I cargo ship and the Philippine chief officer of a Dutch tanker, the Alessandro DP, were charged with breaching naval transportation rules and causing the death of one or more people, the Burgas regional prosecutor’s office announced.
The two ships collided Monday, at about 5:40 pm local time 20 km southeast of cape Emine. The Karim 1 cargo ship, carrying scrap, and sailing under the Sierra Leone flag sank immediately after the collision. Five of its 10 sailors – an Egyptian and four Syrians – were rescued right after the clash, while another five were still missing after the search for survivors was called off on Friday.
There is minor damage to the Alessandro DP.
The Regional Prosecutor’s Office in the Black Sea city of Burgas is probing three possible causes for the clash – a technical failure on one of the ships, human error, or bad weather, with the most probable being human error.