In Italy today is a national day of mourning for the victims of the earthquake in Abruzzo. In Livorno this is also the anniversary of the tragedy of the ferry Moby Prince.Here is the entry of Wikipedia about the event:
On April 10, 1991, at 22.23, the ship collided with the oil tanker Agip Abruzzo in Livorno harbour and it caught fire killing 140 people. Not all the deaths were caused by the fire; it has been reported that a large portion of the victims died intoxicated by massive toxic inhalations, while they were gathered in the main internal room of the ship.
The operations of rescue were managed badly; the may day sent from the Moby Prince, very weak, wasn't apparently heard from the radar officers of Livorno. The rescue teams were deployed only on the Agip Abruzzo. Initially the commander of Agip Abruzzo thought that the ship hit was a small bettolina, and also said to the rescuers “Not to exchange our ship with that”.
Only some volunteers managed to approach the ferry, rescuing only a single survivor, a mariner from Naples. Despite this mariner reporting that there were still survivors on the burning ferry, nobody climbed on the wreck to rescue them.
When the rescuers entered the wreck the following morning, they found only dead bodies. Initially the crash was attributed to a very thick fog, but some amateur video footage excluded this possibility.
The photo shows the memorial plaque inside the Porto Mediceo.
Search labels: Moby - ferry
14 comments:
A lot of tragedies have been happening lately...
My condolences to the victims and the families.
I remember the Moby Prince. I'm thankful I don't have TV, so I didn't see, only heard of the horror in L'Aquila, which was bad enough.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who are touched by this tragedy.
Pace alle loro anime.
A Voi un augurio di Buona Pasqua.
I remember the tragedy, I was only 15, but the news hit me like a storm.
Such a tragedy. Condolences.
The Moby Prince accident sounds absolutely horrible. Now the earthquake. My prayers for all those who died in the tragedies and all the people who love them. A very sad Good Friday, truly.
A sad moment for the Humanity. Each tragedy no matter where in the Earth affect all the people. We in Brazil mourning the victims of the Italian earthquake.
Our prayers are with everyone in Italy today.
So sad moments but Italian people are very brave and never give up!
Like Walker said...our prayers are with everyone there.
God bless you
Léia
What can one say about such tragedies? Life is so precious but can be taken so quickly!
I think it most appropriate to establish memorials relative to tragic events like this - not only for those who were lost - but for us; to remind us to live life to its fullest as we never know what tomorrow will bring.
We're thinking of the victims, and survivors, here, too.
The tragedy is of such major proportions that it's difficult to comprehend its impact. The images on television are difficult to watch. My condolences to your countrymen!
It is sad when every time you turn on the tv, they show you tragedy that is hard to bear. My deep condolences to those families who lost their beloved ones...
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