Norman Atlantic charge sheet spells out negligence

Crew members abandoned their posts, fire emergency plans were mistakenly activated for Deck 3 instead of Deck 4 where the blaze had broken out, and a lifeboat was released into the sea before the evacuation order had been issued or any safety measures taken. The indictment submitted by Italian judicial authorities for the criminal trial regarding the Norman Atlantic ferryboat tragedy, which has been seen by Kathimerini, describes an absence of coordination and a string of mistakes and oversights in the handling of the fire. The trial is set to start on May 8 in the Italian city of Bitondo.

In the early hours of December 28, 2014, the passengers of the Norman Atlantic woke up to the smell of smoke and burning plastic. The ship was en route from Patra to Ancona in Italy, having stopped briefly at Igoumenitsa on Greece's western coast. There were 56 Italian and Greek crew...

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