On April 10, 1991, at the Livorno Radio Station, an experimental project was underway, involving 24-hour recordings of VHF Channel 16, used for distress and emergency communications at sea.
That evening, RAI was broadcasting the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup semifinal between Barcelona and Juventus; the oil tankers Agip Abruzzo and Agip Napoli, along with six U.S. military ships returning from the Gulf War, were anchored in the Livorno roadstead; and a ferry from the Na.Var.Ma company had just departed for Olbia. On Channel 16, around 10:20 PM, a voice, in English, warned: “The passenger ship, the passenger ship...” A few minutes later, at 10:25 PM, the Moby Prince collided with the Agip Abruzzo, and the faint mayday call from the passenger ship was forever captured on tape—a call that seemingly no one ever received.
Of the 141 people on board—including passengers and crew—only one survived.
The story of the worst tragedy in Italian civil maritime history begins there.
The story of the Moby Prince is an enormous puzzle made up of many small pieces: some have been lost, others deliberately hidden, and still others buried for years under piles of reports and testimonies. It is also a forgotten story, dismissed with superficiality by the official narrative built in the immediate aftermath and erased from many people's memory. Yet it remains vivid in the minds of the families of the 140 victims and in those of us who believe it is necessary to seek the truth and preserve its memory.
