The greatest tragedy of the Italian civilian navy. The greatest massacre at work in the history of the Republic. 140 dead. Maneuvering error
Distraction Dense
fog
Or things that cannot be said
That night when the ferry engulfed in flames circled in front of the port of Livorno.
All back to 28 years ago. The Berlin Wall is already on the ground, the Soviet Union is shaking. At the Quirinale Francesco Cossiga. Giovanni Spadolini and Nilde Jotti lead the Chambers. Palazzo Chigi hosts for the third time Giulio Andreotti who leads a dream team: Martelli, Scotti, De Michelis, Cirino Pomicino, Russo Jervolino. And then again Rognoni, Bianco, Prandini, Maccanico,… The strings of the treasury bag are firmly held by Guido Carli. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and the Bank of Italy.
Wednesday 10 April 1991. 22:25:20. Everyone is watching two other dream teams: Juventus and Barcelona clash at the Campo Nou stadium for the first leg of the Cup Winners’ Cup. Casiraghi’s goal was canceled by Stoichkov’s brace. It looks bad for the away zebras, but it will end even worse.IN THAT MOMENT
At that moment, Goicoechea scores the third goal for Barcelona by overcoming Tacconi and sealing the game in favor of the hosts.
At that moment, at 10.03 pm, the NavArMa Moby Prince ferry – in line service between Livorno and Olbia – 65 crew members and 76 passengers, 31 cars and trucks, leaves its moorings and begins to maneuver in the harbor bay. of Livorno. Destination Olbia. It will never get there.
The port pilot, commander Federico Sgherri, at that moment was in control of the Moby Prince; he leaves the Calata Carrara quay n.55 and conducts the exit maneuver. At 10:12 pm he parades in front of the Vigil – the dam protecting the south entrance – he greets the maritime horn by radio and takes the ship towards the open sea. Having completed his task, he hands over the commands to Ugo Chessa, the commander of the Moby Prince, greets all the staff on the bridge and gets on the pilot boat alongside the ferry along with the sailor Renzo Cavallini, to return to land. He doesn’t know, but he is safe.
As soon as the pilot is separated from the ship, Sgherri turns on the radio on Channel 16 VHF, the international call and rescue channel at sea. He thus hears the regular call of the Moby Prince to the Port Authority of Livorno: “Compamare Livorno, Compamare Livorno, Moby Prince, 10:14:33 pm, I rounded the Vigliaia and I’m going out to sea. True route 195 “. Everything is regular: it is the usual route to Olbia.
At that moment, in the harbor basin, everything goes smoothly: the Atlantic Horizon moors and the Car Express enters the harbor. The only ship to sail at that time is the Moby Prince. The next ship scheduled for departure and the Adige freight ferry, which will be stopped before being able to leave moorings.
At that moment, the Agip Abruzzo oil tanker was anchored at anchor in the southern part of the Livorno harbor, just 2.7 miles from Vigliaia. It transports 82,000 tons of “Iranian light” crude oil from the Egyptian terminal of Sidi Kerir. He’s been there for 24 hours waiting for his turn to unload the tanks. IN THE FOLLOWING MOMENT
In the following moment the Moby Prince collided with Agip Abruzzo, breaking through tank number 7 containing about 2700 tons of oil.
10:25:27 pm: the Moby Prince radio officer interrupts on Channel 16: “Mayday Mayday Mayday, Moby Prince Moby Prince Moby Prince, Mayday Mayday Mayday, Moby Prince! We collided, we collided and we catch fire! We collided and caught fire! Mayday Mayday Mayday, Moby Prince, we’re colliding, we need help! ”
The hydrocarbons from tank 7 hit the bow of the ferry and pour into the sea. Iranian light is a very light and very volatile oil: “practically petrol” as the captain Superina defines it. The lighter fractions mix immediately with the air. The sparks produced by the rubbing of the metal sheets ignite the vapors. A ball of fire. The rear section of the Agip Abruzzo is set on fire and the Moby Prince slowly turns into a fiery hell. All 140 people on board the ferry die. All but one: the young hub Alessio Betrand from Naples who – unharmed – abandoned the burning ship an hour and a half later.
A tragedy that has never been fully clarified. Reading the testimonies, the procedural documents, the first instance sentence of 1998, the appeal sentence of 1999 and the final report of the parliamentary commission of inquiry of 2018, the accounts do not add up.
What really happened in the Livorno harbor
How is it possible that the commander and crew of the Moby Prince did not see an oil tanker 268 meters long, 50 wide and as high as a five-storey building.
Is it possible that everyone was glued to the television and to the radios for the game
AND there was thick fog, or not IN THE FOG
In the sentence of the third section of the Court of Florence at the Appeal Process of February 5, 1999, there is talk of fog everywhere. The depositions speak of: “wisps of fog and wisps of fog” (page 5), “the bench had the shape of a cloud”, “it looked like smoke so much that one doubted it was fog”, “certainly that night the fog was strange “(all on page 64), and so on. But reading one comes across a sentence: “on the tanker there was a fog bank that left the other ships at anchor fully visible.” A strange fog, which left strings across the bay but which had chosen to focus only on the tanker.
Romeo Ricci, maritime horn, on duty that evening, instead declares: “at that moment there was a discreet visibility. From here – his observation point on the tower at the mouth of the Porto Mediceo at the exit of the Florence Basin – I was able to see both the Agip Abruzzo and all the other ships in the harbor “. Federico Sgherri – the port pilot who starts the Moby Prince towards its last voyage – testifies: “the visibility of the ships at anchor was normal and the Abruzzo, with her lights, was illuminated”. Massimo Bernace – sailor of the Naval Academy of Livorno – stands guard on the dock of the Academy, right in front of the harbor: “I remember having observed the tanker and I am sure there was absolutely no fog.”.
Even the first responders, who go out to sea immediately after the collision, do not notice fog. Cesare gentile, captain of finance: “There was an impressive clarity, a very calm sea and no fog”. Domenico Mattera, commander of the tugboat Tito Neri VII: “At the exit of the port the visibility was good, then suddenly it dropped to almost zero because of what, I assume, was smoke. In fact, it wasn’t as cool as fog. And the throat burned ”.
Fog or smoke
In fact, crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons of various sizes mixed with a few other substances. When ignited, it releases a dense black smoke produced by the particles that are vaporized by the heat of the fire without burning completely. Visibility was blocked by cold whitish wisps of fog or thick black smoke that burns the throat
And this developed after … or before the impact
The sentence seems to solve the dilemma in its own way: “the fog, that evening , it looked like smoke. ” … “This is confirmed by Melis, Cannavina, Termes, Olivieri, Rol”.
However, going to reread the individual depositions, we find a different reality. Paolo Termes, officer of the Naval Academy, deposes instead: “I never had the feeling that there was fog”. Roger Olivieri, another officer of the Academy: “I absolutely did not see fog in the sea that evening”. IN THE SKY
The absence of fog is confirmed by Enzo Bertolini, commander of the Alitalia flight Rome-Pisa AZ 1102, who signals to the control tower of the city of destination the presence below him – right in the waters in front of Livorno – of “a point of very considerable fire and other smaller ones around ”.
It is not the only aircraft present in the area at the time. The expert of the Prosecutor’s Office Ing. Salvatore Fabbricotti will analyze the radar track of the Poggio Lecceta station and will discover the presence of a vehicle that proceeds at high speed: 38 knots. A helicopter skimming the waves or a fast boat launched at very high speed. No trace of this medium will ever be found.
The witness Marcella Bini and her daughter Giulia Campi at 22:25 on 10 April 1991 see glimmers in the sea from the window of their house. Later, they see a helicopter fly over the stretch of sea where the collision occurred and then head north. Years later, when the controversy over the rescues rages and the authorities say that it was impossible to get air vehicles to intervene, Bini goes to the PM. At the hearing, on January 26, 1996, she confirmed the presence of the helicopter and explained that this reassures her: she does not sound the alarm because she thinks that “help has already arrived”.
Even the witness Massimo Vernace – military guard at the Naval Academy – testified on 27 April 1993 that he saw a helicopter around 11 pm.
Further confirmation comes from the maritime horn Romeo Ricci: it is certain because its position on the tower is very light: when a helicopter passes by it feels strong, unmistakable vibrations.
Air Force, Navy and Fire Brigade deny that their helicopter took off on the evening of 11 April. It is also explained that in any case there are technical times for the mobilization of personnel, the preparation of the aircraft and the journey: the time in which the mysterious helicopter is seen is not compatible with these procedures.
The witness Bini indicates in the interval 22: 40-22: 45 the moment in which he sees the helicopter and the maritime horn and precise in indicating the time when the alarm goes off: 22:31. The mysterious helicopter flies over the tragedy area between 9 and 14 minutes after the radio alarm. It didn’t take off after the alarm, but it’s already there.
Many elements suggest a military helicopter with the transponders turned off. There are helicopters at Camp Darby, but the Americans deny that there is a radar system. So they have not seen what happened in the harbor and cannot follow their aircraft.
If this is the anti-aircraft defense system of one of the largest NATO bases… AT SEA
But that evening at anchor in Livorno there is also the Agip Napoli, sister oil tanker of Agip Abruzzo. On the tape that records the radio contact between Vito Cannavina – the commander of Naples – and the Port Authority of Livorno a few minutes after the fatal impact, the following remains engraved: “Evidently you have not yet understood the gravity of the situation
. and a half and I’m seeing everything that happens there, eh
The ship is all in focus! “. Unfortunately, the fire on Abruzzo covers the Moby Prince already in flames at the sight of the Napoli commander, but he understands very well the drama that unfolds under his eyes just under 3 kilometers away. But the appeal sentence also enrolls him among the supporters of the fog.
The impact of the Moby Prince took place three minutes ago. Renato Superina, commander of Agip Abruzzo, asks for help on Channel 16 VHF at 10:30:10 pm. The Port Authority of Viareggio answers. “Fire on board! Fire on board! Here Agip Abruzzo ”,“ Where are you who call a fire on board
Here Compamare Viareggio, change ”“ In the harbor, in the harbor in Livorno. Livorno sees us. He sees us with his eyes! ” “Received, change.” “Agip Abruzzo, fire on board. Just go out and see the flames! ”.
But there is a proof that definitively eliminates the fog, in a literal sense: the exhibition on TG1 at 20:00 on April 13: the Mammoliti correspondent shows a video recorded only 5 minutes after the impact by the owners Nello and Antonio D ‘Alesium. From the terrace of their house on the Livorno seafront they film the fire and the reflection of the flames on the sea. The report ends with: “In the meantime, one thing is clear: there was no fog at the time of the accident”.
But if there was no fog, because the investigations and then the sentence seek the fog at all costs
An expert states: “The fog is used to explain the collision. Everything revolves around the fog, but this explanation absolutely does not hold up. Then, all ships are equipped with radar on board, and the Moby Prince had as many as three installed on board. One was certainly on and fully functional ”. Even if the experts of the PM come to a curious conclusion: “there was fog and the radar monitor was not followed from the bridge of the ferry.”. But aside from the hub, the Moby Prince crew members can’t testify: they are all dead. ON BOARD
If the fault is not of the fog, it may have been a distraction.Commander
Ugo Chessa’s fault, therefore, who let the Moby Prince out without even glancing at the radar screen in a very crowded roadstead
But on the bridge besides him there were at least the helmsman, the second and the third mate – the latter in charge of the radar.
In the hearings, all those who know him support the seriousness of the commander of the Moby Prince. D’Ambrosio: “Ugo Chessa, was universally recognized as the best officer of the Onorato fleet.”. Langella: “He was considered the best commander as serious and severe.”… “He was the most professional. The most serious. The most severe. The most prepared “.
The first sentence finds its culprit: the commander. “The imprudence of the expert can be attributed to the commander of the Moby Prince, not inexperience. But he was certainly deceived by the completely unusual form in which the foggy phenomenon appeared which, as has been mentioned several times, affected the tanker but left the rest of the bay discreetly visible. This circumstance may also explain the lack of use of radar, which in all probability was on and in operation. Radar was mainly used in fog. But that evening the fog was hardly noticeable. ”
So the judges say that Chessa was an expert and that was why he was reckless and the fog was there – and so you had to fall back on the radar – but this just thickened only on the tanker – and therefore there was no need to use it. It should be noted that even at that time all radars did not just show traffic on the screen but activated a deafening alarm signal if they detected an obstacle on a possible collision course. However, the Moby Prince remained incinerated and then sank before being fished out: we will never know which and how many radars were on, off or in failure.
But if we want to understand something we have to go back to that evening. And start all over again. AT CAMP DARBY
We do this starting from a letter headed “Department of Defense. Military Traffic Command, Terminal Battalion Italy ”acquired in the proceedings. It reads: “March 15, 1991. To whom of competence. Please note that the vessels indicated below are carrying material owned by the government of the United States of America destined for the US-NATO base at Camp Darby, Tombolo, Pisa. The ships are under the direct control of the US Department of Defense, militarized, therefore exempt from any tax or inspection visit on board. Cape Breton, USA; Efdim Junior, Greece; Gallant II, Panama. Best regards”.
All three of these ships were used for the transport of war material in the first Gulf War which was declared definitively ended just 40 days earlier.
The brogliaccio of the Livorno maritime horn photographs the situation in the entire bay and confirms the presence at anchor of the three ships Cape Breton, Efdim Junior and Gallant II. But, according to the same brogliaccio, four other ships linked to US transport for the Camp Darby base are in the harbor that same evening: the Cape Syros, Cape Flattery, Cape Farewell and Margaret Weix.
The parliamentary investigation concluded in 2018 will discover two other ships: the Port de Lyon and the Esperus. All American militarized ships, all at anchor in front of the port of Livorno. All there that same night.
Indeed, also that night, a witness claims to have seen at least one of these engaged in unloading operations protected from darkness, an operation prohibited for obvious safety reasons. The Captain of the Guardia di Finanza Cesare Gentile in the hearing on May 15, 1996 declares: “It was a very clear day and I ascertained the position of the various ships in the harbor: I saw a boat in the north carrying weapons”. And then again: “In the north there was a large, lighted ship that was loading the weapons.”
Camp Darby is one of the largest NATO military bases in Italy, 8 million square meters, located on the outskirts of Livorno and therefore there is nothing strange if American militarized ships are at anchor in Livorno. What, however, is strange is that no one before the testimony of the Captain of Finance had ever put on record that at least one night-time loading and unloading operation of weapons and explosives was in progress. The base, in fact, is one of the main American outposts in the Mediterranean and is the main logistic depot of the Southern European Task Force (SETAF). For this, weapons and explosives left over from the first Gulf War returned from Iraq and were unloaded right next to the ferry route in and out of the port.
Captain Gentile declares at the hearing that he had reported all this in his own registered report on 11 April 1991; but that no one during the investigation ever questioned him or called him to testify.
Furthermore, Romeo Ricci – the maritime horn on duty at the top of the watchtower and therefore in a perfect position to follow the traffic in the sea in front – declares that he saw “a blaze, like an erupting volcano, an indescribable thing, in the position corresponding more or less to Agip Abruzzo and Cape Breton “. So at least one of the US military ships that were waiting to unload (or, according to some witnesses, were unloading in the middle of the night) loads of explosives at Camp Darby was right next to the tanker rammed by the Moby Prince.
But that night in the harbor there were not only ferries, oil tankers and ships under American military control. Scrolling through the list you will also find 21 Oktobar II. Apparently it is just a fishing boat, a flagship refrigerator ship of a small fleet of fishing boats donated by the Italian cooperation to Somalia to help it trade and export fish. Nothing strange.
In theory, the 21 Oktobar II crosses Somali waters by fishing and collecting fish from the other ships in its fleet and then stowing it in the refrigerators and taking it to Gaeta, but in the port of Gaeta the ship is rarely seen. And looking for the movements of the 21 Oktobar II in the Lloyds register, it is evident that the ports touched by the Somali ship do not have much to do with fishing and the fish trade: Libya, Lebanon, Ireland, Iran. And often 21 Oktobar II stops for months right in the port of Livorno, next to Camp Darby. Officially for repairs. A MOGADISCIO
And now let’s leave the port of Livorno for a moment and take a leap forward.
In March 1994, three years later, in the middle of the Somali war, the journalist Ilaria Alpi interviews Abdullahi Moussa Bogor – known as the Sultan of Bosaso – and learns that he has just seized one of the ships of the 21 Oktobar II fleet. With his operator Miran Hrovatin goes to snoop in the activities of this flotilla suspecting an arms trafficking under the control of the Western secret services. You want to shed light on what Bogor told you: on the close relations maintained by some Italian officials with the government of Siad Barre, towards the end of the eighties. The journalist also manages to get on board some of the fishing boats of the flotilla, moored at the quay of the port of Bosaso. You suspect they are used for illicit waste and weapons trafficking. A few hours later,
After the double murder, the 21 Oktobar II fully enters the investigations of the judiciary and the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on Cooperation, but few have noticed that three years earlier, when it was officially only a harmless and anonymous fishing boat equipped with large refrigerated cells , was in the port of Livorno on the very night of the massacre, officially only for another of the numerous repairs to which it was subjected.
But let’s go back to that night and we find testimonies that refer to another ship: a barge, which they accuse of having cut off the Moby route leading the latter to crash into the tanker.
It is said that the barge left the port after refueling. Strange, given the timetable, and given that refueling operations are carried out, again for safety reasons, only during the day.
Even more strange that some identify in the barge just … the 21 Oktobar II. Which was theoretically docked at an inoperative dock awaiting repairs. However, other witnesses are certain they saw that the pier was empty that evening. The strange fishing boat did not spend the night of the disaster at its moorings.
Why on earth a ship waiting for repairs needs to refuel, because it does it at night. and why then it goes out to sea EN ROUTE (OR OFF ROUTE)
It is 10:14 pm and the Moby Prince parades in front of the harbor entrance being registered by the maritime horn. You take a route through a no-anchor cone that is right in front of the port exit, and then head towards Sardinia.
You must be careful of the group of American militarized ships and the two oil tankers Agip Napoli and Agip Abruzzo, anchored further south, beyond the mooring ban.
Where exactly was Agip Abruzzo
The ruling establishes that it was located at 43 ° 29.60 ‘North and 10 ° 15.90’ East. But this was only detected on 12 April by the Italian military ship Libra. Yes, the same one at the center of the dramatic shipwreck of 11 October 2013 in which 260 refugees perished in the Maltese search and rescue area (SAR). But that is another story.
Because the position is taken only two days later
Engineer Marco Pompilio has it recorded that immediately after the impact he was ordered to activate the main engine. The captain asked him if the ship was ready to move, and having received confirmation he ordered engine forward for ten minutes, then an engine stop and then again an engine forward. So the Agip Abruzzo moved after the impact and it makes no sense to measure its position two days later. And because the latter position is identified in the sentence as the one in which the oil tanker was at the moment of impact
But the position of the ship is not a mystery, says Commander Renato Superina at the time of the collision and is recorded via radio. Above the sirens the voice of the commander is distinctly heard chanting: “45 ° south of the Vigliaia. It’s the exact direction, hurry up, I’m busy. ” This position on the nautical chart corresponds to 43 ° 29′.8 North and 10 ° 15′.3 East. In this case the Agip Abruzzo is mistakenly found inside the no-anchor cone at the port exit. A ban motivated by the presence of submarine cables and pipes that could be damaged by anchors.
The ship is 276 meters long, so the orientation must also be considered. Captain Superina broadcasts on the radio: “We are playing, we have been playing, except that we have the bow to the South so you can hardly hear”. He is referring to the warning sirens, which are oriented towards the bow because they are designed to warn ships in front of them of a risk of collision. If the tanker is facing south, these sirens transmit the alarm to the open sea from the side opposite the port.
The orientation of the tanker is confirmed both by local meteorological records and by the witnesses themselves. For example, Giancarlo Faiella – officer of the Port Authority of Livorno commander of the CP 232 who took on board the only survivor – declared in the Commission that the fog or smoke bank “moved from sea to land thanks to a wind that blew from the South West “.
This wind caused the tanker to rotate at anchor until it pointed its bow to the South Southwest in the direction of the wind itself.
It is a fact that the Moby Prince hits the Abruzzo on the right side. With a collision angle of about 70 ° with respect to the bow of the tanker. The latter, oriented by the wind coming from the Southwest quadrant, is located with the affected flank in the Northwest direction. Therefore, at the moment of the collision the Moby Prince was going at full speed (18 knots, as confirmed by the reports) towards East South East. So immediately before the disaster she had turned sharply to the left, almost completely reversing course at full speed.
Because the Moby Prince, instead of aiming for Olbia with route 195 (as declared on the radio by the captain), was going in the wrong direction
She had found herself on a collision course with some obstacle and was trying to avoid it by tacking but hitting the tanker full-blown – which she would have happily avoided had she kept on course
OR was rushing back into port for some urgent reason
See image illustrating the position of the tanker and the angle of collision with the ferry. It can be found on page 17 of the report of the Parliamentary Commission. IN ENGLISH
At 10.20.10 on Channel 16 you hear a fragment: “The passenger ship, the passenger ship”. It may have been a collision risk alert from an unidentified American ship “To passenger ship, to passenger ship.” The only passenger ship in the area at the time
Shortly after, on the same frequency the same voice in Italian says: 22:25:19 “who is that ship
”. After another 8 seconds, the Moby Prince crashes into the tanker.
At 10:49:35 pm, approximately 24 minutes after impact, the second and last communication in English is recorded. A voice different from the previous one: “This is Theresa, this is Theresa for the Ship One in Livorno anchorage, I’m moving out, I’m moving out!”. INCOGNITO
There is no Teresa or Theresa ship in the area. The captain considered it appropriate to use a code name both for himself and for his interlocutor – “Nave Uno” – and to inform him that he was leaving the area in a hurry.
It remains to be explained why the court and commission experts never bothered to thoroughly analyze the records to clarify who Theresa was.
The forensic engineering firm Gabriele Bardazza in Milan, to which Angelo and Luchino Chessa – sons of Ugo, commander of the Moby Prince – were entrusted – carried out a work of sound optimization on those recordings and managed to give a name to the voice: he is the Greek commander of the US military ship Gallant II, Captain Theodossiou. He was at anchor unloading weapons and explosives from the Gulf War at the American base of Camp Darby. And if she went away secretly instead of collaborating in the rescue operations.
(1.continued; the second part will be published tomorrow)
