Rome, July 21, 2012 (AFP)
Rome, July 21, 2012 (AFP)
An Italian trawler missing since a suspected mutiny in which three crew members were forced onto life rafts in the middle of the Mediterranean has been found in Egypt, an Italian official said on Saturday.
The Italian crew members were found drifting near the remote Greek island of Gavdos on July 15 while the fishing boat’s captain, Gianluca Bianca, and the three alleged mutineers — two Egyptians and a Tunisian — are still missing.
The empty ship “was found on Friday night” in the port of Rashid near Alexandria but there is no sign of the crew members, Michele Taccone, the mayor of Portopalo di Capo Passero in Sicily where the ship is based, told reporters.
Coast guards around the Mediterranean had been searching for the Fatima II for days and Italy and Greece have both opened investigations into the incident.
Reports said that the Italian sailors who were picked up had heard shots fired and could not see the captain before the three other crew members forced them off the boat.
The fishing boat had sailed from Sicily on July 10, Greece’s merchant ministry said. The sailors said the incident happened just off the Libyan coast.
