It wasn’t long before the Beverello Pieryesterday morning, the drama did not turn into tragedy. When carrying out the docking maneuver, the motor vessel is fast “Island of Procida” violently impacted the quay, at berth number 9: the collision on the left side of the stern of the vessel caused the wounding of 44 of the 163 passengers who had boarded for Naples just under an hour earlier.
An impact so sudden and violent that it catapulted like springs the people who began to crowd the exit corridors: those who paid the price were especially those who crowded the stairs that lead from the passenger lounge to the pier at the tail of the ship. Fortunately, no children were among the injured.
The misadventure of the “Island of Procida” and its cruise passengers began at 9.05 yesterday from the port of Capri. Crossing without particular problems, despite the force three sea, with waves exceeding one meter and strong gusts of wind.
Once you have entered the dock of the port of Naples, the usual stampede of many who are eager to get out of the vessel and, without waiting for the docking operations to be completed, crowd together, blocking the exit routes. Suddenly, the impact. In the internal rooms of the hydrofoil (in reality it is a fast ship launched 25 years ago, 71 meters long) panic breaks out: screams, curses, people crying and asking for help. The alarm to the port and health authorities was immediately launched at the same time, both by the sailors of the vessel and by the mooring men: rescue operations began immediately and about ten people arrived on the pier. ambulances of 118 and the Coast Guard (to which the investigations are now entrusted).
Of the 44 hospitalized, about ten are foreign tourists, eight of whom are Americans. No one is in serious condition, and the only person hospitalized under code red for a head injury has already been downgraded to code yellow. Mobilized by the general director of the local health authority Napoli 1, Ciro Verdoliva – who personally directed the operations by going to the Beverello quay – the emergency rooms of all the city hospitals: you are at Cardarellitwo at the San Paolo, 13 atSea Hospitalfive per Ctothree to Do well brothersthree a Villa Bethany and 12 at Pilgrims.
They are all, according to what we learn, code green or yellow. An injured man had been hospitalized under red code at the Ospedale del Mare, but his condition improved and he was moved to yellow code. «I was at the top of the stairs, in the front row in front of all the other passengers, as the ship approached the dock to moor – he says Savior – when suddenly I fell down and found myself on the landing.” says Salvatore, one of the injured passengers. Still shaken by the bad experience, an Italian tourist, originally from northern Italy, told reporters: «A very strong blow, I took a violent blow to the face, I saw many people fall to the ground. We had been on holiday in Capri these days, I could never have imagined this conclusion to our trip.”
Having archived the chapter on the injured, it now remains to identify the causes of the failed disaster. The data from the “voyage data recorder”, the black box of the vessel, will certainly lend a hand to the maritime authority delegated by the Prosecutor’s Office to establish whether the cause of the accident was determined by a technical failure, as the shipping company believes, or a human error. Among the possible causes of the accident, however, there could also be a sudden, unpredictable gust of wind or whether a strong gust of wind is to blame. The admiral also went to the site Pietro Giuseppe Vellamaritime director of Campania, who coordinated the passenger assistance activities and also the initial checks.
In the meantime, the ship remains moored at the Beverello pier at the disposal of the Coast Guard and of the Italian Naval Register with the consequences of the impact clearly visible: a large dent on the left stern side, above the waterline. The accident also caused consequences for the regularity of connection services to and from Capri: the stoppage of the damaged vessel also led to the cancellation of some fast trips to Capri, where the work of the G7 of foreign ministers. The seafarers’ coordinator intervenes in the episode Fit Cisl Campania, Enrico Stingone: «What happened once again highlights the safety aspect, which must be linked to training and controls. Then there is the issue of the maintenance of naval units that require greater and continuous maintenance”.
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Tags: Port Naples ship dock Molo Beverello injured hospital Thrown ground
