Unprecedented muddle – The Italian authorities now claim 499 passengers originally on board

Bari prosecutor: “We still do not know the fate of 179 missing people” – His comments brought outrage at a time of uncertainty

The chaos continues on the number of missing and dead in the Norman Atlantic maritime tragedy, while Italian authorities have failed, for three days, to give a clear picture of the victims.

 

As if this were not enough, an outrageous assumption by the Bari Prosecutor, Giuseppe Volpe, states that there is no information about the fate of 179 people on board.

 

According to Volpe, 499 people were on board at the time of the accident: “In addition to the 478 occupants, three illegal migrants, including an Afghan and a Syrian, have been identified. One of them has already requested political asylum. Of these passengers, 179 people are still missing. However, it is possible that a large part of them is already on the way to safety, aboard ships”.

 

At the same time, the Bari prosecutor added that by removing the number of dead, the evacuees are so far 214. At the same time, the ship San Giorgio, which rescued 180 passengers, is still close to the “Norman Atlantic”, where it attempts to retrieve the two bodies of passengers who remain at sea. Due to the bad weather, their collection has yet been unsuccessful.

 

At the same time, three Italian truck drivers perished, while a fourth is still missing.

 

According to latest information, the missing driver called his son shortly after the fire broke out on board, telling him that he was in a lifeboat. Since then, contact was not possible.