The operations for the recovery of the fishing boat that sank on April 18, 2015 in the Strait of Sicily, which began on April 27 by the Ministry of Defense, are proceeding according to the operational sequence.
On May 9, at about 11:00 am, the module, designed and built by the company Impresub Diving and Marine Contractor, began its descent towards the bottom of the Mediterranean. Late yesterday afternoon he reached the wreck. From that moment the system centering operations started. At 18:00 today, the recovery module hooked the wreck at a depth of 370 meters and began to lift it from the bottom to the surface through two special structures installed on board the ship Ievoli Ivory (photo at the bottom).
The operations carried out so far by Impresub, through a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), made it possible to prepare the vessel for its own lifting by means of some interventions that made it possible to cut the superstructures incompatible with the procedures envisaged for recovery. In addition, in order not to lose any remains kept in the wreck, all accesses were closed and nets installed in its stern part.
During this preliminary phase they were recovered, with the support of the staff of the Military Corps of the Italian Red Cross, the first two corpses that were inside the fishing vessel and which are now kept inside a container aboard the ship Isole.
The coordination of the entire recovery operation at sea was entrusted to the Navy which, in addition to guaranteeing an adequate safety framework, is providing logistical support to the complex underwater activities in progress.
The commander of operations at sea is Rear Admiral Paolo Pezzutti, commander of the Diver's Command and Raiders Teseo Tesei COMSUBIN and is embarked on the rescue ship Antaeus (photo on the right).
