The Passenger Ship

The story of the greatest tragedy of the Italian civil navy.

On April 10, 1991, at the Livorno Radio coastal broadcasting station, an experimental project was underway that involved the 24-hour recording of VHF channel 16, used for rescue and emergency communications at sea.

That evening, RAI (Italian Radio and Television Broadcast) is broadcasting the Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final between Barcelona and Juventus; the oil tankers Agip Abruzzo and Agip Napoli and six American militarized ships returning from the Gulf War are anchored in the Livorno harbour; a ferry of the Na.Var.Ma company has just left for Olbia. On channel 16, at 10:20 pm, a voice warns: “The passenger ship, the passenger ship… ”. At 10:25 pm, the Moby Prince collides with the Agip Abruzzo and the very weak may-day launched by the passenger ship, which no one seems to have ever received, is forever recorded on the tape.
Of the 141 people on board – including passengers and crew members – only one survives.
The story of the greatest tragedy of the Italian civil navy begins from there.