Ship and Hydrofoil Collide Off Sicily

ROME – A cargo ship and a commuter hydrofoil collided near the entrance to the Sicilian port of Messina on Monday evening, killing three people, leaving another missing and injuring dozens, officials said.

The three dead were crew members on the hydrofoil, said Messina Port Cmdr. Antonino Samiani. A fourth crew member was missing, Samiani was quoted as saying by the Italian news agency ANSA.

Firefighters were searching for three other people known to be trapped inside the wreckage of the hydrofoil, which was being towed to port, the port captain’s office said.

“The bridge of the hydrofoil was destroyed,” Samiani said.

The hydrofoil, operated by the Italian state railways, was approaching Messina after crossing the Strait of Messina from Reggio Calabria when the accident occurred about 6 p.m., when many commuters were returning home from jobs on the mainland.

A state railways official in Calabria, Gaetano Pellizzeri, said about 55 people were injured.

Some of the passengers, with bloodied faces, were carried on stretchers to ambulances at the port.

The port office said the merchant vessel was the container ship Susan Borchard, which was navigating in the strait. All were safe aboard the ship, which later came into port, officials said. It was not immediately clear what the ship was carrying.

Samiani told state TV it was unclear what caused the collision.

Calabria, the “toe” of the boot-shaped Italian peninsula, is linked to the island of Sicily by air and sea routes.