Appeal against Ustica damages rejected

(ANSA) - Rome, December 6 - The supreme Court of Cassation on Thursday rejected an appeal by the ministries for defence and transport against an order for them to pay 265 million euros in compensation to failed airline Itavia over the Ustica air disaster. The airline operated the DC-9 that crashed into the sea near the Sicilian island during a flight from Bologna to Palermo on June 27, 1980.
    81 people died in the crash and the airline subsequently went bankrupt.
    The Ustica crash has been one of Italy's enduring mysteries, with some suggesting that the plane got caught in the crossfire of a military aerial dogfight and that a Libyan plane could have been the intended target.
    The Court of Cassation found in 2013 that a missile fired from an unknown source was the definite cause of the passengers' deaths, and said that "cover-ups" in investigations into Itavia Flight 870 must now be considered "definitively ascertained".
    The ministries had been found negligent for failing to properly control and monitor the skies above Ustica.
    In addition to rejecting the ministries' appeal, the supreme court also upheld a petition in which the company asked for additional compensation.