French court closes the case of 2004 trawler sinking

PARIS – France’s top judicial court has definitively confirmed a decision to close the case of a French trawler that sunk over a decade ago off the British coast, killing five people.

The Court of Cassation said there’s no evidence to support the claim that a submarine was involved, nor that it was a fishing accident.

The entire crew of the Bugaled Breizh drowned when it capsized and sank 14 miles (23 kilometres) off Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall on Jan. 15, 2004. Many suspected a nearby submarine pulled it under.

Britain’s Royal Navy has previously denied claims that one of its nuclear submarines caused the sinking.

A French TV documentary had suggested the Plymouth-based submarine HMS Turbulent collided with the vessel before it went down.