What remains of MENSH II, an imboatluxury vessel of almost 24 meters, is today an open wound in the heart of the coast eboliAbandoned on the public beach since November 2021, transformed from a maritime wreck into a degraded landscape, the Polish-flagged boat is now a danger to the environment, to swimmers, and to the decorum of the coastline. A salt-corroded carcass, buried in the sand amid institutional indifference.
Yet there was an order. Signed by Mayor Mario Conte the day after the accident and addressed to the Spanish company Neptunus Assets, owner of the vessel, the notice gave them thirty days to remove the wreck. Nearly a thousand days have passed. And the result is clear for all to see: no one has done anything.
From a symbol of nautical tourism to a playground for children, a refuge for wanderlust, a launching pad for risky dives, the wreck has become a deafening anomaly. “If it had ended up on a private beach it would have disappeared within a week,” A citizen who documented everything in a video sent to the MP Francesco Emilio reports Borrelli. "But it's sinking deeper every day. And who knows where the oil and fuel ended up."
Borrelli, a parliamentarian for the Green-Left Alliance, announced an urgent question, requesting the intervention of the Ministry of the Environment and the Port Authority: We can no longer accept this insult to the territory. It's a scandal that speaks of abandonment and administrative impotence. The state must intervene, clean up, and determine responsibility.
Meanwhile, workers continue to clean that stretch of beach, trying to restore some modicum of dignity. But the boat is still there, corroded and menacing, a steely specter of a failed bureaucracy. “When a private company ignores its duties – concludes Borrelli – If local authorities fail to enforce ordinances, it's the state's duty to defend legality and the environment. Enough of the friction, enough of the silence."
Reading this article, I realized how sad it is that an abandoned boat can become such a huge problem. It's incredible how the institutions aren't intervening. I hope there's a solution soon for the sake of the environment.