Minister of Mercantile Marine Miltiadis Varvitsiotis could not give an adequate explanation for the Italian initiative to tow the wounded Norman Atlantic to Brindisi, located 50 nautical miles away, while an Albanian port is 10 miles away.

The Marietta Barretta tugboat which arrived in the area earlier and after strenuous efforts managed to hook onto the ship and begin the towing, is towing it with a minimum speed of two miles per hour, but the problem now rests on choosing a port, since the Albanian coast is 10 miles away while Brindisi is over five times as far.

As stated at the press conference by the Minister, the Italian authorities may have decided to tow the ship to Italy because, according to latest information, the ship fire has been placed under partial control by 8pm at night.

Mr. Varvitsiotis specifically said that: “Right now, 10 Beaufort winds are prevalent in the regioin, with hail and rain also making things difficult”.

He said he is happy to announced that they have rescued 165 people but regret to confirm the death of a man of Greek origin, who was trapped in the escape chute.

The Mercantile Marine Minister stated: “We try to release all possibly information immediately, as we share in the anguish of relatives. It is a difficult night and we hope that everything goes well. We will save all the passengers and crew”.

Finally, the minister stated that this is “one of the most complex naval operations that we have faced in recent years”.