The fire-ravaged Norman
Atlantic ferry docked in this southern Italian port Friday as
prosecutors widened their probe into the deadly fire that killed
at least 11 people and forced the rescue of more than 400
others.
As the charred vessel was moored at the Costa Morena Nord
dock, still smoking from the onboard fire, investigators and
technicians led by Prosecutor Ettore Cardinali supported by fire
fighters began an onboard inspection in search of possible more
corpses.
The investigators clambered onto the upper deck of the
ferry using a fire fighters' ladder.
Prosecutors said they added four more suspects to the
probe, including two crew members and two employees of the Greek
company that leased the ferry, Anek Lines.
The two crew members were identified as Luigi Iovine, 45,
the first officer, and Francesco Romano, 56, the second
engineering officer.
The agony of relatives of those listed as missing
continued. In Naples, Mario Balzano, the son of a lorry driver
listed as missing since Sunday, Carmine Balzano, said the
waiting for news of his father was "exhausting".
Mario said he had driven back to Italy from Germany where
he works.
The worst moment had been waiting in Bari to identify the
body of a man believed to be his father only to discover that
the corpse was that of another person.
Bari Prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe has said as many as 98
people have not been accounted for and dozens more bodies may
yet be discovered inside the ferry.
Captain Argilio Giacomazzi, who has been praised for his
handling of the crisis and for being last to be rescued from the
ferry in Sunday's fire, disregarded compliments.
Speaking from his home near La Spezia, in Italy's
northwestern Liguria region, Giacomazzi said it was more
important to remember those who hadn't made it out of the
inferno.
"We did our best with the help of God," he said.
"The rescuers did everything possible, they tried in every
way to save the lives of the passengers," said Zoran Koron, a
Slovenian truck driver who survived the drama.
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