No hijacking, and in all likelihood not even any threats or assaults, much less kidnapping. The first investigations conducted by the Naples prosecutor’s office seem to radically dismantle the narrative offered on what happened on Friday in the waters of the Gulf by the Ministry of Defense, almost directly from the minister Guido Crosetto, a guest in those hours of Bruno Vespa’s Apulian kermesse. Prosecutors Enrica Parascandolo and Alessandra Converso in fact heard yesterday from 11 of the 15 migrants who were on board the Galata Seaways, the Turkish ship on which the Italian soldiers intervened after the alarm raised by the commander, cross-referencing their testimonies with the video from on-board cameras and with versions of others present. And the story of the migrants, 15 in all, converges: they had hidden on board the ship hoping to gain a slice of Europe. At one point, while sailing in Italian waters, they were discovered by the crew. At that point, “we were afraid they’d repatriate us,” they told the investigators. The only concrete “violent” act they allegedly committed was an attempt to cut the tarpaulin of the truck on which they were hiding with two knives and a box cutter, to get some air. A story of desperation, therefore, much more than violence, or even less of “piracy” – as in the first hours the reconstruction of the Italian defense had let us understand. Of the 15 migrants, of Syrian and Iraqi nationality, two are pregnant women, and two are minors. The two women are now in the hospital, as are two other men – he reports Republic – one in severe hypothermia, the other with a suspected broken ankle.
The commander’s alarm and the intervention of the San Marco Brigade
From a procedural point of view, the conduct of the commander of the Galata Seaways is considered impeccable: informed, complete with video evidence from the on-board cameras, of the fact that there were unregistered persons armed with a few knives on the ship, he activated the security protocol emergency – by having the crew shelter in the armored cabin and launching the Sos. Alarm picked up by the Italian Navy, given the vessel’s position, 90 miles south of Naples. The signal from the Port Authority of the Campania capital in fact triggers the intervention of the elite departments: the NH90 helicopter departed from Puglia, the boarding team of the San Marco battalion on a second helicopter; two military ships to support the operation: the Gregoretti and the Montecimone. A device for an anti-piracy operation, in fact. Revealed however, according to the first reconstruction of the prosecutor, fortunately even excessive. Once on board, in fact, the Italian soldiers found the migrants “in one of the cargo floors among the various ship’s tarpaulins and containers, and they were collaborative”, the vessel lieutenant of the second San Marco Brigade explained to SkyTg24 Luca Canepa. In short, they had never moved from the area in which they had sought refuge. Nor did they attempt to attack the crew, much less the special forces who “liberated” the ship.
The hypotheses of crime now being examined by the Prosecutor
From the reconstruction, in short, a very different picture emerges from the one conveyed publicly, almost directly, by the Minister of Defence. Crosetto on Friday evening had rejoiced at Forum Masseria di Vespa for the operation by the Italian special forces which “regained control of a Turkish ship seized by armed illegal immigrants”: an operation concluded with “the capture of the hijackers who had locked themselves inside the ship” . At this point, however, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Naples does not have any elements to hypothesize a hijacking of the merchant vessel, nor the seizure of the crew. Only the complaints on the loose for the possession of two knives and a box cutter remain standing. And it inevitably looms, he still reports Republic, the launch of an investigation with the hypothesis of criminal association aimed at illegal immigration. Meanwhile, the Galata Seaways resumed its regular route yesterday afternoon.
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