Experts' turn to take Erika centre stage.

(From Lloyds List)

Byline: Between now and middle of next month court will hear 50 witnesses, writes Andrew Spurrier in Paris

THE stage has been set at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris.

The story of the Erika has been told and those accused of responsibility for the vessel's loss have put forward their explanations for its cataclysmic end in storm conditions off the southern coast of Brittany on December 12, 1999.

After 21 hearings over seven weeks, the first act of the Erika trial has come to an end. The second, which can be termed the battle of the experts, can now begin.

Between now and mid-May, the court will hear more than 50 witnesses, among them the various experts appointed by the French courts to study the causes of the casualty and others called by the defendants.

At last Wednesday's session, at which each of the 15 defendants in the trial was invited to give a personal or corporate view of the causes of the loss of the Erika, the court was given the choice of three theories.