Scottish Viking captain jailed for collision
29th April 2016
An eight month sentence was given to Italian Second Officer Pasquale Miccio who caused the death of a young fisherman, Daniel McNeill, when the Scottish Viking Ferry he was in charge of collided with the Homeland fishing vessel on 5 August 2010.
Scottish Viking left Rosyth, travelling to Zeebrugge with excellent visibility being around 12 miles. Miccio ignored several warnings from his crew and failed to respond in any way to avoid the collision suggesting they would ‘zig and zag’ through the fishing fleet.
Scottish Viking collided with Homeland at 1846 hours (GMT). Homeland’s Skipper Joseph and his younger brother Daniel climbed on to the wheelhouse roof to deploy the life raft, but before they could do so the vessel sank beneath them.
Miccio, who was originally charged with culpable homicide, pleaded guilty to breaching the 1995 Merchant Shipping Act at the High Court in Glasgow last month.
Lord Bannatyne said the offence was so serious that he had no other option but to send him to jail. Maritime and Coastguard Agency enforcement officer Allan Marsh, who was in charge of the investigation into the incident, described it as being one of the worst collisions he had encountered in his career.
