Mourning in Tortolì for the death of Andrea Massimo Loi , the sailor originally from the Ogliastra town among the five victims of the shipwreck that took place two days ago 50 miles off the coast of Bari .
"I learned the tragic news this morning and we are trying to track down Andrea's family to show our closeness and that of our community - said Mayor Massimo Cannas to Ansa - Andrea is part of a family he met in Arbatax and Tortolì, where he learned the seafaring tradition that he had put to good use with his working activity when he left for the continent about 30 years ago. We remember him as a seaman and as an athlete, esteemed and well-liked by all. community".
The 58-year -old had moved to the Peninsula for years , first to Ancona and then to Bari, where he leaves a partner. In Tortolì live the old friends and three brothers, who left yesterday for Puglia.
THE TRAGEDY - Loi and five other crew members had left Ancona to tow a pontoon boat to Durres . Halfway through, the tug started taking on water and sank within minutes. Waves up to two and a half meters high left no escape for the five sailors.
Only the commander survived , recovered during the night at sea by a Croatian merchant ship hijacked by the Bari Port Authority: he is a 63-year-old Sicilian, transferred to Bari and hospitalized in a state of shock.
RESEARCH - For the moment only three bodies have been found : the recognition is in progress. On the other hand, the searches for the two missing sailors and considered dead have continued all night and are still in progress for almost 36 hours.
The statements of the commander will be useful, when he will be heard, and those of the 11 sailors on board the motor pontoon that was hooked to the tug at the time of the sinking and from which the alarm was raised.
THE DYNAMICS - In the coming days, the Public Prosecutor of Bari, which investigates the matter, will evaluate whether to arrange the autopsy on the bodies. The prosecutor Roberto Rossi and the deputy Luisiana Di Vittorio have opened a file, for the moment against unknown persons, hypothesizing the crimes of shipwreck and multiple manslaughter . Structural failure, damage or impact with something at sea, perhaps with the same pontoon they were towing, pushed by the sea force 5, is not excluded.
"Probably - explained Admiral Vincenzo Leone , commander of the Puglia Coast Guard - the suddenness of the sinking did not allow the crew to use the rescue means" and did not even give them time to sound the alarm.
Meanwhile, as delegated by the Public Prosecutor's Office, the investigators are also verifying the possible pollution due to the spill of fuel into the sea . "The tugboat - Admiral Leone explained - has full fuel crates on board. We hope that the tragedy of the people will not be joined by an emergency of environmental pollution".
(Unioneonline / D)
