Five dead after Italian tugboat sinks off the coast of Bari
Five men are believed to have drowned after a tugboat sank about 50 miles off the southern Italian coast late on Tuesday night, with the cause as yet unknown.
The Italian-flagged boat 'Franco P' sent out a distress call late Wednesday, saying it was taking on water, sparking a rescue mission and request for aid from all vessels in the surrounding area.
The search for the men – four Italians and one Tunisian – "led to the recovery of four bodies, and the identification at sea of another one which is currently being recovered," said the Italian coastguard in a statement.
The tugboat's captain was pulled from the water alive overnight, it said, as were 11 people manning the barge tethered to it.
“Searches have been going on since last night and they encompass a very large area – about 90 [square] miles – in a stretch of sea located between Italian, Croatian and Albanian waters," Vincenzo Leone, captain of the Direzione Marittima della Puglia (Puglia’s coastguard), told Repubblica.
"The rescue operations have been hampered by the current weather conditions but we’ll keep on working to recover all the missing bodies.”
The Franco P, which departed from Ancona in the late evening, was headed for the Albanian port of Durrës.
The barge, which is currently adrift in the Adriatic, will be towed back to the port of Bari.
Its crew members and the tugboat's captain will be interrogated in the coming weeks, reports Repubblica, as prosecutors in Bari have already opened a manslaughter investigation.
The family of the victims are already in the city, where they’re being assisted by the coastguard. The identity of the deceased crew members hasn’t been disclosed by authorities.
Comments
See Also
The Italian-flagged boat 'Franco P' sent out a distress call late Wednesday, saying it was taking on water, sparking a rescue mission and request for aid from all vessels in the surrounding area.
The search for the men – four Italians and one Tunisian – "led to the recovery of four bodies, and the identification at sea of another one which is currently being recovered," said the Italian coastguard in a statement.
The tugboat's captain was pulled from the water alive overnight, it said, as were 11 people manning the barge tethered to it.
“Searches have been going on since last night and they encompass a very large area – about 90 [square] miles – in a stretch of sea located between Italian, Croatian and Albanian waters," Vincenzo Leone, captain of the Direzione Marittima della Puglia (Puglia’s coastguard), told Repubblica.
"The rescue operations have been hampered by the current weather conditions but we’ll keep on working to recover all the missing bodies.”
The Franco P, which departed from Ancona in the late evening, was headed for the Albanian port of Durrës.
The barge, which is currently adrift in the Adriatic, will be towed back to the port of Bari.
Its crew members and the tugboat's captain will be interrogated in the coming weeks, reports Repubblica, as prosecutors in Bari have already opened a manslaughter investigation.
The family of the victims are already in the city, where they’re being assisted by the coastguard. The identity of the deceased crew members hasn’t been disclosed by authorities.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.