Like all tragedies at sea, the one in Cetara this afternoon that cost the life of a 29-year-old from Salerno could have been avoided.
It could have been avoided if the driver had been more careful and those on board, including the victim, had thought more about looking at the sea and its dangers rather than their cell phones. A young life cut short, a family destroyed, a friend injured and the shock and guilt and remorse that the person driving the speedboat will carry with him for the rest of his life.
The reconstruction of the tragedy made by the Port Authority of Salerno leaves little doubt about the improvisation and a series of errors committed while driving the boat.
Three friends had rented a boat in Salerno to spend the eve of August 40th together. It was supposed to be a fun day for the three Salerno residents, but today it turned into a tragedy, the second this year in the sea of the Amalfi coast. One of the three was driving the six-meter-long vessel with a XNUMX-horsepower engine.
Around 16.30:29 p.m., a sharp turn caused one of its two passengers, CM, XNUMX, to fall into the sea while he was struggling with his cell phone. In an attempt to recover it, the driver reversed, hitting his friend with the propeller. The other friend on board attempted to save his life in vain.
The body of the 29-year-old who fell and was hit by the propeller, sinking into a red patch, has not yet been found. After alerting the rescue services, a patrol boat from the Salerno Coast Guard intervened and took the two surviving friends on board, listening to their account of the events and taking them to Salerno to subject them to toxicological tests.
The vessel was seized and towed to the port of Cetara. Search operations for the young man's body began immediately with two helicopters, one from the Fire Department, the other from the State Police, flying over the body of water of the Gulf of Salerno.
The Coast Guard patrol boats and the Naval Operations Section of the Guardia di Finanza were also involved in the search, joined by the Gregoretti vessel of the Port Authority. Divers from the Port Authority's Underwater Unit also arrived from Naples and dove to search for the body on the seabed at a depth of about 44 meters.
But the coming darkness could interrupt the search. An investigation has been opened to shed light on the incident.
EDITORIAL TEAM
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