Divers missing for 24 hours in Villasimius, were working to place buoys. Searches with robots: divers are also arriving

The dive to 107 meters deep to reach the remains of the San Marco cargo steamer, in front of Villasimius, is reserved only for expert divers.

Come Stefano Bianchelliaged 56, and Mario Perniciano, of 60, missing since yesterday off the coast of south-eastern Sardinia. They had dived to a depth of over eighty meters to place buoys near the wreck of the ship launched in 1919 and sunk by the submarine Clyde on 1st June 1941, while sailing from Civitavecchia to Cagliari.

For Bianchelli that activity is a job: for almost thirty years he has in fact been the owner of one of the first diving centers in Villasimius which, in addition to various diving courses, offers excursions to shipwrecks including that of the San Marco.

His friend Perniciano, who had accompanied him on many other dives, was with him this Sunday to help him place the signal buoys, probably securing them to the seabed with ropes. Together with them was another man who was driving the support boat that had taken them to the dive site. It was the latter, not seeing them go back up, who called 1530, triggering the search from last night at 5.30pm.

The patrol boats of the Port Authority, the divers of the fire brigade and the helicopters of the Coast Guard and the fire brigade immediately headed to the scene and searched that stretch of sea between Villasimius and the island of Serpentara, but without finding anything. This morning the searches also resumed with the underwater robot rov, which arrived from the Peninsula but still no trace of the two. Tomorrow a minehunter from the Navy will also arrive in Villasimius: on board there will be divers who will also immerse another robot for great depths. Meanwhile, the police are also working to reconstruct what happened on Sunday. The hopes of finding the two still alive are slim to none, but no one wants to give up.

“This story took everyone by surprise given the experience of Bianchelli, who I know personally and who was one of the first to create a diving center here in Villasimius”, says the mayor Gianluca Dessì. “I am heartbroken and sorry and the entire sector is troubled by this catastrophic event. As a municipality and protected marine area we are offering all the necessary support to the searches.” The activities to find the two divers will resume tomorrow at first light.