A Coast Guard patrol boat never left that stretch of sea, not even during the night, carrying out inspections with artificial lights every hour. But so far the searches of Stefano Bianchelli, 56 years old, originally from Todi but long resident in Villasimius, and Mario Perniciano, 55 years old from Cagliari, the two expert divers who have been missing in the waters between Serpentara and the Cabbage Island, in Villasimius.
With a support boat they had reached the area of the wreck of the San Marco, a ship sunk during the Second World War, at a depth of 107 metres. According to what we learn, they had to place a sort of signaling buoy, to make it easier to locate the diving spot. They went down, with a line to attach to the ship at the bottom, but never came back up.
The alarm was raised immediately, with a massive mobilization of vehicles that searched the sea until 9pm yesterday, when the searches were suspended.
A Coast Guard patrol boat remained in the area even at night to monitor any re-emergence of objects.
This morning a helicopter from the Harbor Office will also take off and a rubber dinghy and another fire brigade boat will also converge. At dawn, members of the diving centers in the area also went out to patrol.
We are also awaiting the arrival of a Navy ROV, a robot for exploring the seabed: explorations at that depth are risky even for rescuers.
