Condor captain talked trivia minutes before fatal crash

THE captain of the Condor Vitesse and his first officer chatted about trivia before slicing a small French trawler in two in thick fog, killing a father of four.

They failed to notice a blip on their radar screen which turned out to be the trawler Les Marquises with 42-year-old Philippe Lesaulnier and two others on board.

Mr Lesaulnier was killed instantly at 8.42am on 28 March when the bows of the Condor struck him at 36 knots.

In a damning report by the French Accident Investigation Bureau, published yesterday, it emerged that the French captain of the Condor Vitesse and officers on watch were talking minutes before the crash about a subject which was 'in no way related to their duties'.

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