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Audio recordings of fire-stricken Italian ship may not be recovered

Xinhua, March 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Audio recordings of the Norman Atlantic ferry, which caught fire in the Mediterranean last December in which 11 people perished, may not be recovered, the local media reported Monday.

The audio recordings, which are stored in the ship's Voyage Data Recorder (VDR), similar to the black box, are necessary to determine how the emergency was managed on the ship during the fire and if it was tackled properly.

Investigators have so far been unable to extract the audio recordings from the VDR which was damaged in the fire.

"A large part or perhaps all the audio recordings are missing," an investigator claimed. The only possibility to recover the data is to use software from the manufacturers.

The Italian-flagged ferry, chartered by Greek shipping firm ANEK Lines, caught fire off the Greek island of Corfu on Dec. 28 while sailing from western Greece to Italy with nearly 500 people on board.

At least 11 people were confirmed dead and 477 people were rescued, 18 were reported still missing. Rescue operation lasted more than 36 hours to get survivors off the blaze-hit boat, which was then towed to the Italian port of Brindisi. EndIt