Technical Violations Mount in Bulgarians' Ohrid Drowning Case

Crime | March 1, 2011, Tuesday // 11:36|  views

A Macedonian police boat tows the recovered sunken boat 'Ilinden,' into the Ohrid marina on September 19, 2009, two weeks after the tragic boath accident in Ohrid Lake when 15 Bulgarian tourists lost their lives. Photo by BGNES

Branko Baic, the representative of the German company Lloyd, which issued the necessary certificate ensuring the Ilinden tour boat can be used to transport tourists, had been conducting the technical inspections in 20 minutes.

The information is published Tuesday in the Macedonian daily Dnevnik, a day after the Ohrid Court resumed the trial for the tourist boat Ilinden, which sank in the Macedonian Ohrid Lake on September 5, 2009. 15 Bulgarian tourists drowned during the incident.

Baic had issued three certificates for satisfactory technical state of the boat - in 2007, 2008, 2009, along with navigation permits, per the testimony of the other defendant in the case – Ilinden's captain, Sotir Filevski.

Baic failed to appear in court for the third time and will be tried in his absence.

Filevski blamed the Ohrid navigation authority because they had not been conducting any technical checks of vessels since 2004. From 2007 to 2009, the certificates have been issued only by Lloyd and its representative Braic against an annual fee of EUR 500 and never while the vessel was moving.

Regarding the added-on deck, where passengers were allowed on the day of the tragedy, the captain testified this is how he purchased the boat and no one ever told him he should not let tourists on this deck.

Filevski insisted he took good care of Ilinden and regularly checked its technical condition.

As far as the overload, he said he had an agreement to take a group of 46 while 50 arrived in the last minute and refused to be separated from the others.

According to the captain, the boat, which is registered with maximum capacity of 43 people, had a sign saying it could transport up to 60 – something Baic never objected.

The Head of the Ohrid navigation authority, Lyubcho Nastoski, testified at the time of the incident his office did not have an inspector in charge of navigation safety.

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Tags: Branko Baic, Sotir Filevski, trial, Ilinden, Ohrid, Bulgarians, drowned, Ohrid, Lloyd

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