Flight International online news 09:00GMT: Italian officials from Bari in Italy, including chief prosecutor Emilio Marzano and his deputy Giuseppe Scelsi, have confirmed that they are investigating the contents of the petrol tanker which refuelled the Tuninter ATR 72 which crashed on 6 August.
Italian investigators revealed yesterday that both engines on the ATR 72-200 had stopped operating before the aircraft ditched off the Sicilian coast while en route to Tunisia. There were 35 passengers and four crew members on board. Thirteen people are confirmed dead and the remaining three are listed as missing
Scelsi says the same batch of fuel may have been used to refuel other flights: “We have to look into that possibility. We cannot rule out any possibility. We are looking at an accident that has had repercussions on many people. We are bound by duty to be extremely scrupulous.”
The aircraft had been attempting to make an emergency landing at Palermo in Sicily after the pilot reported the failure of one of the aircraft’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PW124 engines. A spokesman for Italian air accident investigation organisation Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo (ANSV) later said that during the emergency approach the pilot lost the second engine.
The ATR 72’s fuselage broke into three main pieces upon impact, the central section with the wings and engines staying afloat while the cockpit and empennage sank.
Source: Flight International
