"There was an explosion on board of modest magnitude and not due to an explosive charge." And again: « The only thing that can explode are the fuel vapors», contained in the tanks «behind the pilots' seats and under their feet». However, the explosion does not trigger on its own: "It is therefore possible that the helicopter was hit by a bullet, probably a tracer, which caused the detonation of the steam contained in the tanks, probably those positioned behind the pilots' seats."
This is one of the conclusions contained in the report drawn up by Professor Donato Firrao, expert in metallography from the Polytechnic of Turin (in the curriculum Ustica and Mottarone), and by the major of the Carabinieri RIS Giovanni Delogu, as part of the investigation into the mystery of the Volpe 132, the Guardia di Finanza helicopter mysteriously crashed into the waters off Capo Ferrato on 2 March 1994. On board were Marshal Gianfranco Deriu, 42 years old, from Cuglieri, and Brigadier Fabrizio Sedda, 28 years old, from Ottana: they both died. The unpublished document was published exclusively in Avvenire by journalist Marco Birolini, on the eve of the thirtieth anniversary of the beginning of the detective story.
That evening the Volpe cruised off Capo Carbonara: the last communication said it was heading south. Then silence. The fragments, some but never all, will be found much further north, in front of Feraxi. Not far from where some witnesses, heard with a long and anomalous delay, claimed to have seen a merchant ship, the Lucina , whose crew would be massacred a few months later in the Algerian port of Djendjen. What were we doing not far from the Quirra range, for at least three days, with the waterline showing a clear change in load over time? A presence linked to the mystery of Volpe 132? Certainly a thread of blood and mystery connects the two events.
According to Firrao's report published in Avvenire, which formulates a second hypothesis, "the trigger" that led to the shooting down of the Guardia di Finanza helicopter "could also have been caused by a normal projectile which, hitting the metal structures , could have caused sparks." In short: the Volpe 132 could have been hit by something that had been fired from a boat that was in those waters. The report dates back to 2011, but had never been made public. It led to the crime hypothesis in the Cagliari prosecutor's file investigating being changed: it became multiple voluntary homicide. An investigation now closed. While someone had broken into the lockers of the two dead financiers, someone else was manipulating a helicopter identical to the Volpe which was found in a warehouse in Quartu, managed by a company linked to the secret services. And a further person, an Italian very close to the services, was the only survivor of the Djendjen massacre. He then died under mysterious circumstances, in Cape Verde.
And after 30 years the mysteries of Volpe 132 have still not been revealed.
(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)
