Peter Bargmann, aged 63, and 57-year-old Herman Raake are accused of causing the death of Mr Van Beck at around 10am on 11 July through negligence. The victim died after he was pulled into the ship’s bow thruster while carrying out an underwater inspection.

Anthony Farrugia, a diver who was employed to assist Mr Van Beck on the day of the incident, took the stand yesterday to tell the court his version of events.

He explained that neither he, nor the other diver assisting Mr Van Beck, had gone into the water. Mr Farrugia remained on the barge, next to the Verlaine, to regulate Mr Van Beck’s air supply.

He said he saw Mr Van Beck go onto the Verlaine with Mr Bargmann and he said they signed a document assuring them that all the engines had been turned off. A flag was then raised on the vessel’s mast to indicate that there was a diver in the area. He said the captain and another person then boarded the barge.

“Mr Van Beck entered the water and at that point I did not see the bow thruster on,” said Mr Farrugia. He continued that he saw Mr Van Beck swim over the bow thruster, on the surface of the water.

The witness said he had moved to the air regulators when he suddenly felt a pull on the pipes. He looked into the water and saw bubbles and debris. At that point, said Mr Farrugia, he assumed that someone had switched the bow thruster on. Someone told him to go down to help Mr Van Beck, but he said he assumed Mr Van Beck was dead when he pulled a pipe from the water with some of his remains still attached to it.

During cross-examination, Mr Farrugia explained that he was not wearing a wet-suit at the time. Since the depth was eight metres, he said he would not have needed it and he could have gone under water using his own breath.

Defence attorney Stefano Filletti asked Mr Farrugia whether Mr Van Beck could have unhooked himself from the pipes, had he got stuck. The witness said Mr Van Beck had, in fact, unhooked the pipe from the back, but had no way of unhooking the pipe that supplied air that was attached to his head.

At the end of the sitting, presiding magistrate Abigail Lofaro upheld the defence’s request to allow the men accused to return to Germany in between court sittings. They each were ordered to pay a Lm2,000 deposit.