Italian shipowner Raffaele Brullo, head and founder of the shipping company Augusta Due, has been put under house arrest by the Palermo Coast Guard on charges of procedural fraud in the case of the Nuova Iside fishing vessel that sank off the coast of Sicily on 12 May last year.

Prosecutors accuse the oil and chemical tanker Vulcanello M of colliding with a fishing boat, causing the deaths of the three employees on board. In finding out that the Augusta Due tanker could be responsible for the crash, the VDR tracking device was decisive.

Two crew members, the master and the third officer on the bridge that night, who were on board the Vulcanello M, were also arrested. A warrant has been raised for a fourth seafarer residing in Romania.

The prosecutors note that a few days after the accident occurred, the owner of Augusta Due ordered the vessel's hull to be repainted to hide any potential signs of the crash. On board the Vulcanello M, Brullo and the crewmembers insist they are innocent.

Maritime Business World