The Moby Prince tragedy - the ferry that collided with the oil tanker Agip Abruzzo on 10 April 1991 in the harbor of Livorno, killing 140 people including 26 Sardinians - was caused by a third ship .
This is the sensational conclusion of the report approved unanimously by the parliamentary commission of inquiry after just over a year of work, which began on 13 July 2021, on the greatest catastrophe of the Italian civilian navy.
“The Moby Prince - said Andrea Romano, chairman of the commission - collided with the oil tanker Agip Abruzzo due to the presence of a third ship which suddenly appeared in front of the ferry which caused a left turn which then caused the accident. Unfortunately this ship has not yet been identified with certainty ".
THE YELLOW - For the identification of the ship, Romano emphasized, there are two paths “to be followed in the future by both the judiciary and the next Parliament. We have no certainty but we suggest in our conclusions two possible investigative hypotheses to be investigated: one concerns the ship 21 Oktobaar II , which is a former Somali fishing boat, and the other the presence in the stretch of sea affected by the presence of one or more barges engaged in possible clandestine bunkering operations ".
The mysterious boat would therefore have emerged on the route of the Navarma ferry - which departed from Livorno to reach Olbia with 141 people on board - forcing the command of the Moby Prince to an emergency maneuver that caused it to end up against the Agip tanker, causing the devastating fire. . The visibility conditions on the evening of the collision were "good, if not excellent, with a breeze and a calm sea", explained Romano, but "the black out on board the tanker a few minutes before the tragic collision made it invisible in front of the eyes. of the Moby Prince ferry command ".
Not only that, the investigations revealed that the tanker itself was in an irregular position : "We have ascertained - added Romano - without a shadow of a doubt, thanks to in-depth scientific studies that the Agip Abruzzo tanker, against which I will collide the Moby Prince ferry was anchored in the harbor in an area where anchoring was prohibited ".
"ENI MAYBE KNOWED" - Eni, "which is a very large company and is a national pride", continued Romano, " perhaps it knew that Agip Abruzzo was where it shouldn't be , perhaps it also knew about the blackout or steam and even that perhaps she was involved in clandestine bunkering: we asked for the materials of the internal investigations but we did not have them. I hope that those who do so in the future will be luckier than us. Those documents for which I renew the appeal to make them public may help write another important piece of truth about that tragic night ".
NO BOMB - The hypothesis of the bomb officially disappeared , which "together with that of the fog or the distraction of the command of the ferry during navigation, contributed to creating confusion about what really happened on the night of April 10, 1991 " . explosion occurred after the collision "but we do not yet have exhaustive answers on the presence of contaminated traces found on board for which further investigations would have been needed, but we could not do it because we finished the investigations with the end of the legislature in view of the next elections" .
CHESSA: "NEAREST TRUTH" - "Now it is necessary to find out who is the third ship that caused this disaster, but also to know who immediately took a malicious action to prevent the truth from being discovered and that it is now closer. I hope that the Livorno prosecutor's office, which has an open file, will also go to the bottom of these aspects ".
This was stated by Luchino Chessa , son of the commander of the Moby Prince Ugo and brother of Angelo, who recently died at the age of 56 .
"Now we know - he stressed - that a third ship has disturbed the navigation of the Moby Prince and now we must also understand why no one rescued the ferry and why everyone went to the oil tanker , which had a series of dubious situations that today must be clarified and that led to that pact of non-belligerence between the two companies. Why did Navarma want this insurance agreement? What did it gain? ". Nicola Rosetti, vice president of the Moby Prince 140 commission also spoke at Palazzo San Macuto: "We need to find - his words - those responsible for those lies that immediately wanted us to believe that it was the fog and a tragic fate that led to the death of 140 people".
(Unioneonline / D)
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PICTURES:
La carcassa della Moby Prince