Condor officer ‘told to get to Jersey ASAP’ before L’Ecume II crash

The second officer in charge of a Condor ferry involved in a fatal crash with a fishing trawler was told by the captain to get to Jersey “as soon as possible”, a court has heard.

Lewis Carr and Artur Sevash-Zade deny three counts of gross negligence manslaughter following the deaths of skipper Michael Michieli and his L’Ecume II crew members Larry Simyunn and Jervis Baligat in December 2022.

Captain Radoslaw Zelazny told Jersey’s Royal Court the Commodore Goodwill had been 35 minutes delayed leaving Guernsey.

When he handed over to Mr Carr, he asked him to “get to Jersey as soon as he could” and had “set the engines to full speed” to do so, jurors were told.

L’Ecume II sank following the collision with the freight ferry on 8 December 2022.

Crown prosecutors alleged Mr Carr and Mr Sevash-Zade ignored flashing warnings 10 minutes before the crash.

Answering questions from the defence, Capt Zelazny said Mr Carr had “full control of the speed and direction of the vessel” at the time of the crash.

He told the court he had “never had any concerns” about the abilities of the second officer, who had worked for Condor Ferries for three years.

Capt Zelazny, who had been captain of the Goodwill for 11 years, said he and other staff had received third-party training for managing resources on a ferry’s navigation bridge.

The court heard the training, which involved strong communication and members of the team switching position to get different perspectives, was stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic – before Mr Carr joined the ship.

One of the cooks working onboard the Goodwill said Mr Carr was sent to the Captain’s cabin to write everything that had happened down because the captain told Mr Carr there was going to be “an investigation”.

In a written statement to the court, Andrew Cains said he had headed up to the bridge after the collision as it was his emergency station for the man overboard procedure.

He was sent to check on Mr Carr, who he found on the couch writing what had happened down.

Mr Cains said he asked if Mr Carr was ok, to which he said, “yeah, but we were going full speed… that’s the only thing that’s worrying me”.

Mr Cains added he believed Mr Carr was “very calm” and “very professional” when he left him.

In an interview from 09 December 2022 with the Ports of Jersey, before it became a criminal investigation, Mr Carr said he thought the Goodwill was “the give way vessel”.

Mr Carr said he “realised I had about 10 seconds” to react between the fishing boat changing direction and the collision.

He said he made a “broad alteration of course” and sounded the five short blasts on the ferry’s horn “to warn them”, which he believed was the best course of action in the circumstances.

The trial continues.