It is the master who is ultimately responsible. It is speculative, but I can only imagine that the pilot could be arrested if he has actively done something to be suspected of, says Per M Kristiansson, a lawyer at Wåhlin advokater, where he is responsible for maritime and transport law, among other things.
“Will do a lot more”
It takes a lot for a pilot to be held legally responsible, says Johan Schelin, professor of maritime and transport law at Stockholm University.
The pilot is legally an adviser to the master on how the ship should be navigated in a certain area to avoid groundings. The pilot provides advice on course and speed in the fairway, but the master still has ultimate responsibility for navigating the ship.
Johan Schelin also says that it is unusual for the pilot to be held accountable, but there is at least one previous Swedish case in which the pilot has been prosecuted. It is a ruling from 2020 about a ship that was travelling from the port of Husum and where the pilot was considered negligent when it came to checking the ship's position. This resulted in the ship running aground after going too far to starboard in the fairway.
There, the pilot had given incorrect instructions and the court concluded that the pilot could be blamed for this, but that given the circumstances of the case, it was not sufficient to lead to liability.
Possible in theory
Henrik Ringbom, professor of environmental law with a focus on Baltic Sea-related law at the University of Turku, agrees with the other experts that it is unusual for a pilot to be suspected.
But in theory it could still be possible, he says.
The pilot was on board the freighter when the accident occurred and has been assigned a defence attorney. On Tuesday afternoon, defence attorney Thomas Håkansson announced that his client had been questioned and charged with two crimes. The second crime is, according to SVT, negligence in traffic.
"He denies both suspicions but is fully cooperating with the police to clarify what happened in the tragic accident. His thoughts go out to the affected family and the terrible situation they find themselves in," the defence lawyer writes in a text message to TT.
The captain of the ship has previously been suspected of causing death.
