AGI – Photos, videos, expressions of amazement in front of the Caremar fast ship Procida Island, still docked at the Beverello pier, the same one where it hit the quay while drifting during the mooring maneuver for reasons yet to be clarified. Among passengers arriving from the islands of the Gulf of Naples and those departing, comments can be heard on the marks left by the impact on the lower part of the hull and on the adverse fate perhaps favored by the strong cold wind that has been sweeping the sea and the city since yesterday.
“These are things that happen to the living,” philosophizes a commuter in his sixties, proceeding in line towards a departing hydrofoil. Tourists and residents observe the operations of the Port Authority which is entrusted with the initial investigations to reconstruct the dynamics of the events and ask for information on the injured.
The ship’s passengers who suffered wounds and bruises almost all got off accompanied by 118 personnel from the ASL Napoli 1 Centro. Health workers carried out preliminary checks on board to define the emergency codes. After about three hours, only the Coast Guard men remain who have to verify whether the accident was caused by a mechanical problem, thanks to a gust of wind, or if there are human responsibilities.
What is certain is that i 100 passengers on board if they saw it “black, it was black”, as summarized by a lady who has minor bruises on her face and who is examined standing up, despite her fright. “A strong blow, I fell to the ground like many others, but overall I’m fine”, says another of the passengers, a tourist from Lombardy. In fact, most of the people transported were already ready to leave the ship, standing, lined up near the stairs leading to the exit door or in the central hall, and fell to the ground due to the impact.
Someone suffered fractures to their limbs, a man of about 50 years old is in code red but not in danger of life, another a mild head injury, many have polytraumas or maxillofacial traumas. Among them were tourists, law enforcement officers involved in the security of the G7 Foreign Ministers in Capri who were returning home after a shift, and commuters, “but no minors”, specifies the general director of the ASL Ciro Verdoliva, highlighting that for some injured people who presented themselves “with their own means” to the emergency room of the Pellegrini hospital, checks are also being carried out on their “actual presence on board”. “We are acquiring data and information and activating activities to identify causes, circumstances and possible responsibilities for the incident. Each accident has its own characteristic, we will have to verify the good functioning of the mechanical means, of the engines and also of the governing bodies, of the rudder and the same correctness of the maneuver”, explains Inspector Admiral Pietro Giuseppe Vella, head of the Maritime Directorate of Campania.
A last passenger limps away, after having been visited in the Advanced Medical Post from which the rescue coordinator, thanks to a dozen ambulances and a medical motorbike, directed the patients to various city hospitals selected by expertise. Verdoliva asks the doctors: “Is this the last one?”. “Yes, we’re done,” she replied. The counts of those who have arrived at the hospital are redone and, above all, the classifications are rechecked with diagnostic tests. At the end of the afternoon no code red, 44 injured in total divided between Italians and Americans, the oldest 69 years old, the youngest 2 years. Of 35 treated and discharged at 4.55pm, only 9 remain under observation in the wards. Dislocated shoulders, bruised knees, multiple traumas, swollen faces, broken arms and legs, a lot of fear but no victims.
Tags: Ferry hits dock Naples injured lot fear
