The hatch door did it.

A Danish submarine inventor charged in the death of Swedish journalist Kim Wall testified Tuesday that she died in an accident aboard his homemade vessel — but denied chopping off her head, arms and legs.

Peter Madsen, 46, said in Copenhagen court that he and Wall were sailing in the strait between Denmark and Sweden last month when he crawled out through the hatch. He claimed he was holding the door open for Wall when a wave rocked the vessel and caused the hatch to shut suddenly on her.

“I lost my foothold, and the hatch shut,” he said “There was a pool of blood where she had landed.”

The inventor said he later tied a heavy piece of metal to her and tossed her in the drink because he wanted to properly “bury her at sea.”

Wall’s headless torso washed up on a shore near Copenhagen about two weeks after she went missing.

With Reuters