Sections

Probe ongoing as North Atlantic docks

Prosecutor starts first inspection, search for more dead

Redazione Ansa

(ANSA) - Brindisi, January 2 - 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.
   

Leggi l'articolo completo su ANSA.it