Italian prosecutors order ferry back to Italy
Prosecutors in Italy say they fear more bodies will be found aboard the crippled Greek ferry Norman Atlantic, adrift for the third day after a fire broke out on a car deck, with 10 people killed in the ensuing chaos.
Bari Prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe has ordered the Greek ferry, currently off the Albanian coastline, to be towed to the southern Italian port of Brindisi as part of a criminal investigation.
Volpe says it is likely other bodies will be found in the cargo areas given “incontrovertible” evidence that illegal migrants were on board.
Salvage companies were working to secure tow lines to begin moving the ferry, but were hampered by high winds and seas. Two Albanian tugboat sailors died Tuesday, apparently struck by a tow line that snapped.
[The Associated Press]