FATAL SHIPWRECK IN MARINA DI GROSSETO

A tragic event occurred in the Tuscan Archipelago. The corpse of the sailor Ernesto Longo, 79, was found yesterday morning on the beach of Marina di Grosseto by a pedestrian who has immediately warned authorities. The corpse lay on the water edge, with a fisherman’s yellow coat. It was soon identified as the corpse of Ernesto Longo, a businessman from Brianza: his family was searching for him and they had already warned the Port Authority of Punta Ala because Longo hadn’t had any news after he left from Porto Ferraio, Elba Island, in the afternoon of Saturday March 5th. Longo was an engineer, ex-manager and a great yachtman who loved Tuscan waters.

His boat, Black Jack, a 10-metre-sailing boat was found few hours later on the private beach of a campsite in Castiglione della Pescaia. The crossing from Porto Ferraio to Punta Ala didn’t seem difficult for an expert like Longo, who was used to sail alone, even if weather and sea conditions of the last two days, with strong wind and rough sea, could have complicated the boat management. The finding of the boat, with the mainsail reduced to two reefs, confirms that the wind was tense when the incident happened.

Waiting for checks, it is impossible to establish if Longo suffered from a sudden illness or if felt into the water for other reasons, probably because of sea and wind conditions. Investigators are evaluating both the two possibilities and they are deciding about the necessity of an autopsy to verify the causes of his death. For the moment, it seems clear that the corpse spent only a little time in the water before the finding.