Proceedings continue in Italy in a trial relating to a shipwreck off Steccato di Cutro, Calabria, in which at least 94 migrants died, 35 of them minors. Two Carabinieri officers testified this week about what they saw as they arrived. Six Italian officials, from the Finance and Coast Guard have been charged with negligent shipwreck and multiple counts of manslaughter, over their handling of the incident.
Two Carabinieri brigadiers testified on February 10, at the Court in Crotone, where proceedings continue in the Cutro trial concerning the alleged failure to provide timely assistance to the sailing yacht "Summer Love."
"There were people trapped under the boat. My colleague and I went into the water to free them. Some were still alive. We performed CPR on others. Had we arrived sooner would the outcome have been different? I don't know when the impact occurred. When we got there, people were gasping for air. I can say that those who survived also owe their lives to us," said the Carabiniere Brigadier Gianrocco Tievoli from Crotone.
Together with his patrol colleague, Tievoli was among the first to reach the beach at Steccato di Cutro on February 26, 2023, recalling the shipwreck of the yacht "Summer Love," which claimed the lives of 94 people, 35 of them minors, with an undetermined number still missing.
Read AlsoItaly: Crotone remembers victims two years after deadly migrant shipwreck
Four Finance Police officers and two Coast Guard members on trial
Tievoli gave his testimony in the courtroom of the Crotone tribunal, where the trial is underway over the alleged failure to rescue those on board the Summer Love.
Four officers from the Italian Finance Police (Guardia di Finanza) and two members of the Coast Guard are charged with negligent shipwreck and multiple counts of manslaughter.
Read AlsoAlleged smugglers convicted over Cutro shipwreck
'This is a massacre, there are dead children, dead women'
Before Tievoli, another officer from the Carabinieri, Brigadier Lorenzo Nicoletta testified.
While on duty at the operations center, he recalled the first words he heard from colleagues: "This is a massacre. There are dead children, dead women," he confirmed in court.
"At 4.08 am, the Aeronaval Operations Unit, [known as Roan] called the operations center to inform me that they had been unable to locate a target reported by Frontex at 11.55 pm on February 25, and that their patrol boat had to return due to adverse weather conditions," Nicoletta said.
"At the same time, a very brief call came in from an international Turkish number. During those few seconds, a person said they were in Italy and uttered words that were incomprehensible at the time. Based on experience, I immediately thought they were migrants," he continued, adding that he contacted the Crotone Port Authority but was told that "no one could be dispatched by land and that the Finance Police were at sea."
The hearing continued with testimony from Major Nicola Roberto Cara of the Carabinieri, who conducted the investigation.
In the first part of his testimony, that will continue in the upcoming hearings, Cara outlined the respective responsibilities for maritime search and rescue operations.
Read AlsoItaly: Prosecution wants 6 soldiers to stand trial for Cutro shipwreck