The Senglea local council yesterday filed a judicial protest against the captain and owners of a ship berthed at the Malta Shipyards claiming the residents and a large number of cars and boats were damaged by soot released from the ship’s boiler.

On Monday, the captain, chief engineer and superintendent of the ship Didon, were fined Lm300 each after they all pleaded guilty to illegally dumping ash and soot from the ship’s boiler on Saturday morning.

Salah Rashwan, 50, from Egypt, Dahech Ali, 42, from Tunisia and Lotfi Ben-Aissa, 53, from Tunisia, all pleaded guilty to illegal dumping and, as a result, damaging several cars and boats.

In the writ, filed in the First Hall of the Civil Court, the council said that a large amount of soot and oil was discharged from the ship, “covering three quarters of the area,” causing great damage to a number of cars and boats.

Furthermore, “a considerable number” of Senglea residents also suffered damage to their property.

As a result, the local council said it was holding the ship solely responsible for the damages the residents were sustaining.

Dr Jose Herrera and Dr Shazoo Ghaznavi signed the writ.