Don’t captains learn in captaining school that they need to pull up an anchor? And if they forget to do so, why aren’t they sued for negligence and full payment of all damages?
There was a similar case about a year ago. A vessel called Eagle S damaged an undersea power cable called Estlink 2 between Finland and Estonia. The ship was seized by Finland’s coast guard, and the crew was charged for a number of crimes. The final verdict was that Finnish court had no jurisdiction to handle the case. The alleged crimes happened on international waters, and the crew should have been charged in the country of who or what ever owns the vessel and/or within the countries of the crew.
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel this is not only a civil case but also a criminal case.
I’m no expert on maritime law, anybody out there who has more insights? I mean: locking up one crew into jail for ten years will defray others.
Do Russians have any subsea cables? If you see what I mean. Making the captain accountable would yield nothing.
