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At Least 10 Die in Italian Ferry Fire Responses to Ferry Fire Are Criticized
(about 5 hours later)
VERBANIA, Italy — At least 10 people died after a ferry caught fire on Sunday en route to Italy from Greece, Italian officials said Monday, but concerns rose that some passengers might still be missing even after the evacuation was completed. VERBANIA, Italy — As black smoke gushed from the lower decks of the stricken ferry, Italian and Greek fireboats bobbed alongside, blasting water at the flames, while overhead helicopters churned through heavy Adriatic winds and mist to rescue the increasingly desperate passengers.
Italian, Greek and Albanian rescue workers had accounted for 427 people as of Monday afternoon, the authorities said. However, that number fell short of the 478 passengers and crew listed on the original ferry manifest. Adding to the confusion, some of the passengers rescued from the burning ferry were not listed on the manifest at all, and may have been aboard the ship illegally. Adm. Giuseppe De Giorgi, the Italian Navy’s chief of staff, described the operation as one of the largest and most dramatic rescue missions his country had ever undertaken, with 427 people evacuated from the burning ship.
“We hope that no other people are missing,” Maurizio Lupi, Italy’s transportation minister, told a news conference in Rome on Monday. Even so, at least 10 people were known to have died after the ferry, the Norman Atlantic, caught fire on Sunday en route to Ancona, Italy, from the Greek port of Patras, and there were concerns that some passengers might still be missing even after the evacuation had been completed.
It would be “premature” to tally how many people are missing, he added, noting that the ferry had made a stop in Greece before sailing for Italy and that some passengers might have gotten off there, and that some passengers may have been no-shows. Questions also quickly arose about emergency preparations and the response of the crew after passengers interviewed in Italian newspapers and on television spoke of disorganization and chaos after the blaze got out of control.
Italian officials said that only after the names of the survivors had been checked against a definitive manifest of the passengers onboard would it be possible to effectively determine whether others were still missing. Italian officials said there had been Greek, Turkish, Albanian, Italian, German, Swiss and other nationals on board. In an interview with La Repubblica, a Rome newspaper, the Greek soprano Dimitra Theodossiou described a harrowing wait for rescuers on the bridge of the ship. She said men had rushed forward from lower decks, even after being told to “give precedence to children, the elderly and women.”
All the crew members of the ferry — of both Greek and Italian nationality — were accounted for. “They pulled people away, pushing people aside to save themselves,” she said. “I was also struck, but I reacted to get to the helicopter, I had rage inside. I thought, it’s now or never. It was awful. I will never forget it.”
Italian officials spoke proudly of the rescue efforts, which evolved over some 30 hours and involved dozens of vessels, helicopters and planes, from Italy as well as Greece and Albania. Ms. Theodossiou told the newspaper that no alarms had sounded and that she awoke in her first-class cabin after smelling smoke. Initially, she said, she went to the lower deck because the lifeboats were there. “Some were put at sea, others weren’t, and I don’t know why,” she said.
Adm. Giuseppe De Giorgi, the Italian Navy’s chief of staff, described the operation as one of the largest and most dramatic rescue missions Italy had ever undertaken, involving helicopters battling gale-force winds to pluck passengers to safety while the ship continued to burn, spewing thick black smoke. Christos Perlis, 32, a Greek truck driver interviewed by The Associated Press, also said that men had tried to punch their way forward. “Everyone there was trampling on each other to get onto the helicopter,” he said.
The ship’s commander, Argilio Giacomazzi, was the last to leave the vessel, Italian officials said. The gesture, in keeping with maritime tradition, caught the attention of Italians still smarting from another maritime disaster: that of the Costa Concordia, which sank off the coast of Tuscany in January 2012, killing 32 people. Spray from the fireboats soaked the already cold passengers. “Our feet were burning, and from the feet up we were soaked,” Mr. Perlis added.
“Like all serious commanders, he is the last to leave the ship,” Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said of the captain, a veiled slight to the Concordia’s captain, who abandoned his vessel well before others had reached safety. An unidentified man interviewed by television reporters in the Italian port of Bari said several people had fallen overboard in the darkness.
Offering his condolences to the families of the victims, whose identities have not been made public, Mr. Renzi praised Italian rescue workers for their “passion and tenaciousness,” which he said “avoided a massacre.” Their work “makes us proud to be Italian,” he said during an end-of-year news conference. Italian, Greek and Albanian rescue workers had accounted for 427 people as of Monday afternoon, the authorities said. But that number fell short of the 478 passengers and crew listed on the original manifest. Adding to the confusion, some of the passengers rescued were not listed on the manifest at all, and may have been on the ship illegally.
Alongside the praise, however, came polemics. Prosecutors in the Italian port cities of Bari and Brindisi opened separate investigations into the cause of the fire and to determine whether negligence was a contributing factor. The transportation ministry will also carry out an investigation, starting with the ship’s black box, Italian officials said. “We hope that no other people are missing,” Maurizio Lupi, Italy’s transportation minister, told a news conference Monday in Rome. It would be premature to tally how many people might be missing, he added, noting that the ferry had made a stop in Greece before sailing for Italy and that some passengers might have gotten off there, and that others might have been no-shows.
Some passengers interviewed on Italian television complained about disorganization and chaos on board after the fire got out of control. One passenger said freezing passengers had been left to their own devices, and that that the lifeboats hadn’t worked. Italian officials said that only after the names of the survivors had been checked against a definitive manifest of the passengers onboard would it be possible to effectively determine whether others were still missing.
“The crew weren’t able to, they had to stay there, they weren’t equipped to know how to abandon ship,” said one unidentified man interviewed by television reporters in Bari. He said that several people had fallen into the water in the dark. All the crew members — of both Greek and Italian nationality — were accounted for.
Survivors were taken by ship to two Italian ports, while other ships were directed to Greece, Croatia and Malta, an Italian official said. Injured passengers — some suffering from hypothermia or smoke inhalation — were taken directly to hospitals on the Italian mainland by helicopter. Italian officials spoke proudly of the rescue efforts, which evolved over some 30 hours and involved dozens of vessels, helicopters and planes.
While the cause of the fire remained unclear, Italian news media reported that the ship had not passed an inspection in Greece this month. The ship’s commander, Argilio Giacomazzi, was the last to leave the vessel, Italian officials said. The gesture, in keeping with maritime tradition, caught the attention of Italians still smarting from another maritime disaster: that of the Costa Concordia, which capsized when it ran aground in Tuscany in January 2012, killing 32 people. The captain of the Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, was later charged with manslaughter and accused of causing the shipwreck and abandoning the cruise liner before everyone was evacuated,
But an Italian admiral said Monday that the repairs had been made after the inspection and that the ship was seaworthy when it set sail on Sunday. “Like all serious commanders, he is the last to leave the ship,” Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said of Mr. Giacomazzi.
Offering his condolences to the families of the victims, Mr. Renzi praised Italian rescue workers for their “passion and tenaciousness,” which he said “avoided a massacre.” Their work “makes us proud to be Italian,” he said during an end-of-year news conference.
Some survivors were taken to Bari, and others were headed to Brindisi, another Italian port, while other rescue ships were directed to Greece, Croatia and Malta, an Italian official said. Other passengers — some suffering from hypothermia or smoke inhalation — were taken directly to hospitals on the Italian mainland by helicopter.
While the cause of the blaze remained unclear, prosecutors in Bari and Brindisi said they would open an investigation. The Italian news media reported that the ship had not passed an inspection in Greece this month. Yet an Italian admiral said Monday that the repairs had been made after the inspection and that the ship was seaworthy when it set sail on Sunday.
The Italian owner of the ship — which was built in 2009 and was sailing under an Italian flag even though it had been chartered by a Greek company — also insisted that the vessel was seaworthy.
The ship was still floating in the Adriatic off the Albanian coast on Monday. Officials in both Italy and Albania said that they planned to confiscate it.