Positive drug test for boat captain
Prosecutors refuse to draw direct line between cannabis and fatal sinking after collision on the River Seine.
The captain of a vessel implicated in the fatal sinking of tourist boat has tested positive for cannabis according to the police.
He and another man in command of la Besogne are still being questioned by police investigating the theory that the large Bateaux-Mouches tourist boat struck a smaller vessel causing it to sink with the deaths of two people.
A 45-year-old man and six-year-old child died in the incident near the Pont de l’Archevêchéfootbridge near Notre Dame Cathedral on Sunday.
Ten others, five adults and five children, were all injured but were rescued.
The two men are due to appear before a judge today at the opening of an investigation into “involuntary homicide and injury”.
A source involved in the investigation said that while the captain had tested positive for cannabis it may have been consumed up to several weeks in advance and may not have had an impact on his capacity to sail the boat.
Investigators said they were looking closely at the speed la Besogne was travelling however admitted this would be difficult to determine.
“This type of boat does not have a black box and the instruments on board can be offset by the current or the windspeed,” said an investigator.
Photo:Afp/Tomas Van Houtryve
