Taranto, no trace of the three missing yachtsmen: too many canyons on those seabeds

Claudio Donnaloia, 73, died of drowning. He was the oldest of the four yachtsmen from Taranto who disappeared last Sunday while they were at sea on board a vessel just over 6 meters long. This is what emerged from the necropsy examination conducted yesterday morning at the Santissima Annunziata hospital by coroner Marcello Chironi who, on behalf of the public prosecutor Remo Epifani, examined the body recovered by the Coast Guard and the Guardia di Finanza on Monday afternoon. According to what has been leaked, there are no different signs on the body of the 73-year-old that could suggest other causes of death: a reconstruction so clear that the prosecutor Epifani then decided not to perform the autopsy and return the body to the family for funeral arrangements.

Meanwhile, the search for the other three missing continues. Around 7 on Sunday morning, in fact, Domenico Lanzolla, 60, Antonio Dell'Amura, 61, and, finally, Pasquale Donnaloia, the victim's brother, who had arrived from northern Italy for the holidays, had also set sail. They had cast off aboard a semi-cabin cruiser for a sport fishing trip after having tested the engine that had been undergoing maintenance shortly before. That morning, according to what investigators have reconstructed, the four were supposed to wait for the mechanic to arrive, but evidently they chose to set sail anyway. The strong north wind was therefore also accompanied by the condition of an engine that was evidently unsuitable for the sea that day. These are contributing factors that could have led to the sinking of the vessel: investigators are now convinced that the boat is on the bottom of the Ionian Sea, at a point where the depth reaches a depth of as much as a thousand meters. Furthermore, this hypothesis is supported by the discovery of a piece of the onboard sofa, which surfaced in the same area of ​​the sea and was recovered by investigators about half an hour after the sighting of the 73-year-old's body. In that stretch of sea, between Taranto and Metaponto, the seabed is made up of marine grand canyons that have become the ideal habitat for dolphins and sperm whales.

The causes of the tragedy remain under wraps, but the most likely one at this time is that the boat, in precarious sailing conditions due to the engine, may have hit a wave badly and capsized. This would also explain the lack of alarm raised by the occupants: a possible breakdown would have in fact caused the boat to drift, but would have still left time to recover a cell phone to contact 1530 for emergencies at sea. But nothing. No calls to the Coast Guard or even to the family members, a sign that something sudden and unexpected prevented the boaters from taking countermeasures. The last contact with the families, in fact, was recorded at 11, then absolute silence. The cell phones were unreachable and there was no news of the four, who had assured them they would be back by lunchtime. The family members waited until 2 pm without getting anxious. Concern grew when at 5 pm on Sunday there was still no news and from there the alert was sent to the military led by Captain Rosario Meo. From that moment the search began, which is still ongoing for the other three missing, but hopes now appear to be hanging by a glimmer of hope.

"Our city's solidarity goes out to the family of Claudio Donnaloia for their painful loss and to the relatives of the three men still missing," wrote Piero Bitetti, mayor of Taranto, adding, "We remain united in supporting the families involved and grateful to the institutions involved in the search."