One of the divers may have had an illness or a problem and his colleague and friend tried to help him. In the end there was nothing that could be done for both of them and they died at 106 meters deep, off the coast of Villasimius between the islands of Cavoli and Serpentara. This is the hypothesis on the tragedy that cost the lives of Stefano Bianchelli (56 years old) and Mario Perniciano (55).
This morning, at the end of the long search operations coordinated by the Cagliari Coast Guard, the bodies of the two divers were identified and one - that of Perniciano - recovered thanks to the fire brigade's Rov (Remote operational vehicle) robot. However, due to the prohibitive sea conditions, the operations to bring the Bianchelli one to the surface were suspended.
«Since we were alerted, on Sunday around 3.30 pm, to the failure of two divers to return on board, we have been active in the search», underlined the commander of the Cagliari Harbor Office, Giovanni Stella. «The two professionals had to place a signal buoy in the wreck of the San Marco at a depth of one hundred meters. When they didn't come back after the two and a half hours of autonomy, the two people who were on the support boat raised the alarm."
From that moment on, the Coast Guard, firefighters, private vehicles from Sub Sinnai and the Marine Protected Area began searching at sea and in depth with special robots.
«The operations were never interrupted, even during the night with the presence of a patrol boat», highlighted Stella. Flights were also carried out by aircraft from the Harbor Office and the Fire Brigade.
This morning the ROV, which arrived from Milan, identified the bodies. They were on the sandy bottom, close together. “Probably one had an illness and the other tried to help him,” hypothesized the Coast Guard commander. "They were about thirty meters from the wreck of the ship that sank during the Second World War."
The investigation launched by the Prosecutor's Office will shed light on what happened. All checks will be carried out on the instruments and equipment of the two divers and the "computer" supplied to anyone who dives to that depth will also be analysed, in addition to the autopsy which will be carried out by the medical examiner Roberto Demontis at the Brotzu hospital.
No alarm signals have been found and even the signaling buoy, a marker, appears to have not yet been positioned.