Controversy over the rescue operations requested by some hikers who, on the morning of Saturday 25 January, spotted the half-sunken vessel , around 9.20 am, off the coast of Isola Rossa . It was the 6.5-metre semi-cabin boat that ran aground on a shoal where Pietro Satta , the 48-year-old restaurateur from Sassari, and his 71-year-old friend from Genoa, Maurizio Rossi, were inside, both of whom died in the shipwreck that occurred not far from La Marinedda beach .

"While we were walking along the coastal paths, at a certain point we saw this thing in the sea, very far from us, and we didn't understand what it was , whether it was an overturned boat or the carcass of some marine animal. The fact is that we called the Porto Torres Coast Guard at 9:37, reporting the fact and expressing our doubt as to whether it was one or the other," is written in the hikers' post. " The person who answered us said that they hadn't had any reports, as if ours wasn't one, and that they couldn't do anything about it, deciding that it wasn't a report worthy of being investigated further. At which point we also called the Isola Rossa tourist port and they too were surprised by the response the Coast Guard had given us ."

The rescue operation began at 12.40 , after two divers in the area had verified the presence of two bodies inside the vessel , now close to the reef. In the photos taken by the hikers, it can be seen that the boat was far from the reef.