The toll of an accident that occurred in the late afternoon in
the port of Crotone
is three dead and one seriously injured .
There was an explosion, due to causes under investigation, in the engine room of a tugboat, flying the Maltese flag, which was moored in the port for maintenance work.
The explosion fully hit the crew members who were carrying out the work, three of whom died instantly while a fourth was injured and was hospitalized in serious condition in the Crotone hospital.
According to what emerged from the first investigations by the firefighters, the cylinder of a welding machine that the victims were using to carry out the work exploded.
The bodies of two victims were thrown, due to the explosion, on the quay of the port, while the third body was found in the sea.
The dead are two Indians and an Egyptian.
At first, the news of four missing due to the outbreak spread.
It was later found that the four people initially reported missing had actually gotten off the ship.
Everything became clear when the four were tracked down.
On site, to coordinate the rescue operations, the commander of the Crotone fire brigade, Giuseppe Bennardo.
The outbreak was felt in a large area of the city despite the tugboat being moored in a peripheral area of the port.
The Crotone Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation to reconstruct the dynamics of the incident and ascertain any responsibility.
On the spot, the deputy prosecutor Alessandro Rho, who directed the activity of the firefighters and heard the people who were on board the tug.
The investigations were delegated to the Mobile Squad of the Crotone Police Headquarters, which acquired the on-board documentation and all the testimonial and technical elements useful for the investigations.
The Public Prosecutor's Office is verifying, in particular, compliance with the safety conditions for the workers who were carrying out maintenance work.
For this reason the welding machine was seized,
the parts that can be used for the investigations of the exploded cylinder and all the technical material that may be useful for the investigations.
The tug on which the outbreak occurred, according to what has been learned, was at the service of the platforms off the coast of Crotone for the extraction of methane.