The entries in the diary of events of the Taranto Air Naval Group (Gan) of the Guardia di Finanza, compiled on the night in which the Steccato di Cutro shipwreck occurred in which 94 people died, were analyzed during today’s hearing in the trial on alleged delays in rescue operations.
The inconsistencies emerged
The examination of the documentation would have brought to light some inconsistencies as well as only two communications between the GAN operations room and the Roan (Air and Naval Operations Department) of Vibo Valentia: the receipt of the Frontex report at 11.45 pm and the notice of use of the Barbarisi patrol vessel at 2.05 am. The main part of the hearing concerned the movements of the V5006 patrol boat, in service in Crotone and forced to remodulate the navigation plan due to the prohibitive sea conditions. The vessel had returned to port to carry out bunkering and although the GAN operations room was aware of the return, the information was not reported in real time in the diary of events, being recorded only at 2.30.
Panic: “We put the salient facts in the diary”
When questioned on this aspect, Brigadier Corrado Panico, shift leader of the GAN operations room, declared: “We put the salient facts in the diary. I didn’t write it down because it wasn’t relevant at the time. It was of little use knowing or not knowing.” It was also noted in the diary that Roan had reported V5006 about two miles from Le Castella although it had not passed the Capocolonna promontory, more than 20 miles away. “The Roan – said Panico – had reported that there was one of their units in Le Castella”. Responding to the questions of the president of the criminal court Alfonso Scibona, the witness guaranteed that the commander of the GAN, Nicolino Vardaro (who is among the accused) “was constantly informed via telephone”, recognizing the lack of timeliness regarding the V5006: “I communicated it, after 2, not immediately, because our patrol vessel, the PV6 Barbarisi, undertakes navigation together with the V5006. The fact that there is also V5006 of the Roan at that point has operational value”. During the hearing, replying to the prosecutor Matteo Staccini explained why in the interrogation he had claimed that the gulet was a migrant boat: “The hypothesis was made on the basis of what the crew of the Eagle1 wrote in the report: possible migrant. However, it was a personal opinion which is of little use because the assessment is not within my competence”.