There are six suspects in the investigation into the shipwreck of Cutro, which cost the lives, last February 26, to over 90 people, including 35 minors.

The Public Prosecutor's Office of Crotone has issued a search order against Lieutenant Colonel Alberto Lippolis, commander of the Roan of Vibo Valentia of the Guardia di Finanza; to Antonino Lopresti, of the same Roan, operator on duty on the night of the tragedy, and to Colonel Nicolino Vardaro, commander of the Aeronaval Group of Taranto.

The same measure was notified to three other people whose names, however, have not yet been disclosed.

The purpose of the investigation is to ascertain the reasons for the failure to intervene to rescue migrants and whether the legislation that required intervention regardless of individual competences and responsibilities has been respected.

The shipwreck

The boat that sank on the beach of Steccato di Cutro was sighted by Frontex on the night of February 25: the report of the European agency that deals with borders, was collected by the Guardia di Finanza who sent two naval units from Taranto and Crotone to the boat. The military vehicles, however, turned back, officially due to adverse weather and sea conditions. In the meantime, the gulet continued its navigation towards the Calabrian coast followed by a Frontex plane which, however, due to fuel problems was forced to return to base. The Coast Guard patrol boat intervened about 6 hours after the sighting only following the alarm launched by some fishermen who were on the beach of Steccato.

A clarification in relation to the investigation had arrived yesterday afternoon from the prosecutor of the Republic of Crotone, Giuseppe Capoccia: "More than real searches - said the Prosecutor yesterday - we are carrying out timely checks on elements that we considered missing to complete the investigation". The six are components of the rescue system that should have been activated to rescue migrants after the identification of the boat. Hence the initiative of the Public Prosecutor's Office to order the search of the offices of Fontex, Guardia di Finanza and Coast Guard.

The night the boat was sighted, the intervention was managed as a police operation and the SAR event, that is, search and rescue, was not declared. On that occasion only the Guardia di Finanza intervened, with two naval units that went out to sea without being able to identify the boat. Yet, according to the law, no distinction can be made between rescue operations and police operations.

The decree states that the investigations have ascertained that the patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza "at that time, far from being sailing in search of the target, was actually inside the port of Crotone". According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, moreover, the documents of the patrol boat were altered.

Handle

Wreck on the beach of Steccato di Cutro in Calabria

"Altered documents"

Everything starts from the Frontex report at 23.03 on 25 February to the competent office of Versavia and, for competence, to the International coordination center of Pratica di Mare which indicates the presence of a boat that sails with "good buoyancy" and on which we see "a person on the upper deck" and "possible additional people below deck".

The communication is then forwarded to the operations rooms of the Guardia di Finanza of Vibo Valentia and to the General Command of the Coast Guard. At 23.49, in a phone call between the Guardia di Finanza and the Coast Guard, the operator Lopresti states that the V5006 patrol boat is going to the area. The Coast Guard operator replies that "he could have alerted a unit of Crotone or Roccella Ionica receiving assurances from the operator of the Guardia di Finanza".

The investigations, however, have ascertained, reads the decree, that the patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza "in those moments, far from being in navigation in search of the target, was actually inside the port of Crotone". From aboard the same patrol boat, moreover, they had made it known two hours before that they would not be able to sail due to sea conditions.

According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, moreover, the documents of the patrol boat were altered. "The newspaper of chiesuola - states the decree - presents significant anomalies: the methods of drafting lead us to believe that the circumstances present on pages 37, 38, 39 and 40, which occurred in moments prior to the disaster, therefore in a non-emergency situation, were noted after the facts".

Colonel Vardaro, despite being told to go and intercept the boat with the migrants, gave the order to sail only after receiving some reminders from Lopresti.

LocalTeam

Cutro, divers' research in the water

The boat was hooked for the first time by radar at 3.34, just over six kilometers from the coast of Isola Capo Rizzuto and 13 and a half kilometers from the mouth of the stream near which the disaster will then occur. But, despite this, the Roan of Vibo communicated, in a subsequent phone call to the Coast Guard of Reggio Calabria, that "from the radar at the moment we do not beat anything".

"In order to proceed to a complete reconstruction of the fact and understand the reasons underlying similar operational choices, the delay accumulated in the operation of the Guardia di Finanza and the failure to communicate the position of the boat to the Port Authority - says the Prosecutor in the decree - we tried to acquire the service communications between the operators of the Gdf engaged in the service of that night, but no audio track was found on the servers used by the Guardia di Finanza".

And in fact, the Prosecutor's Office emphasizes that "private or service telephones" were also used for communications. During the searches, personal and service phones were seized from the suspects in order to ascertain all the communications that have been made since the night of the shipwreck, including the exchange of audio and video files.