The ENRICA LEXIE/ST. ANTHONY case and the India-Italy diplomatic crisis

Technical Report Based on the technical report of the engineer Luigi Di Stefano, expanded,

revised and supplemented by further information and technical data

By MARCO ANGELO ZIMMILE

Foreword. Following the facts happened on February 15th off the south coasts of India, which saw the involvement of San Marco Regiment Marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, on board of the tanker Enrica Lexie, and the fishermen of the fishing boat St. Antony, the fragmented news, sometimes distorted, in order to clarify the facts, I have decided to prepare the present memorandum on the basis of informations obtained via media, internet and my personal experience as Marine in the San Marco Regiment, as volunteer of the Italian Civil Protection, as professor of navigation and maritime rescue. From the present memo be excluded all fragmentary or unverifiable news will be excluded, hence only ascertained facts, either from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the media, or those yielded by my personal analysis will be presented. I would like to precise that, whenever new and ascertained facts be unveiled, either proving or disproving the thesis presented in this memo, they would be used to correct/extend this work, so as to outline as clearly as possible the happenings in object.

Legend: - φ: Latitude; - λ: Longitude; - XX.XXL hours: local time; - XX.XX UTC hours: Greenwich mean time; - NM: Nautical Miles (1.852 meters); - Kts: knots; - Mt: meters; - International waters boundary: 12 NM from base line (imaginary line that rectifies the

coastal line); - AIS: Automatic Identification System, Automatic tracking system used on commercial

shipping as well as on recreational boats starting from a certain displacement; The ship, by means of electronic apparatus installed on the bridge, transmits on a predefined VHS system its navigation data. These data can be visualized and are also published on the internet.

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The testimony of the crew of the tanker Enrica Lexie February 15th 2012, 16:00L hours approximately. The tanker Enrica Lexie, property of the shipping company Fratelli D’Amato Spa, is cruising in International waters, approximately 30 NM off the Indian south west coast base line, almost in front of Kollam, at coordinates φ 9° 20,00'N e λ 075° 52,00'E approximately, speed of 14 kts and course set on 345 bearing, when spots on the radar, approximately 2.8 NM to the west, a fast moving contact on a constant bearing (hence, on a collision course). All the directives imposed in the case of attempted boarding are put into action:

- Risk-assessment; - Radio contact with the un-identified unit; - Light signals in Morse code;

None of those procedures have any effect. The commander raises the ship’s speed at its maximum level (15 kts) and soon after the entire crew is sent to the fortified “citadel”, a fortified zone in the aft deck, in order to guarantee its safety, while the troop of the San Marco Regiment, composed of 6 Marines, put in action the ship defense procedures. It’s worth noticing that, since the ship is flying the Italian flag, it is considered Italian soil and therefore it is subjected to its defense on the basis of art. 52 of Italian Constitution. The Marines, equipped with Beretta mod. Ar 70/90 rifles, identify the hostile vessel by means of binocular (The hostile vessel is also photographed, the photos being held at the Ministry of Defense). The vessel is blue colored, 12 meters long fast craft, with 5 armed people on board. On the basis of the standard procedures against piracy acts, which contemplate:

- warning volley in air; - warning volley in the water; - Fire at eye level only if the above mentioned procedures did not have positive effect

(this last procedure was not adopted since the warning shots had positive effect) The Italian Marines shot three volley in the water at a distance of 500, 300 and 100 meters (20 shots in all) without ever hitting the hostile craft; Such action deters the hostile vessel in its boarding manouvre and finally moves away without, on the basis of military personel testimony, any wounded on board. Ceased the alarm, the crew return to duty station and the ship slows down to the cruising speed of 14 kts, returning to its cruise without changing its course, while the Commander informs the shipping company in Naples and the ICC (commercial Crime Service) of the accident (the shipping company will inform the Italian judiciary officials). At 18:20L hours the Indian Coast Guard contacts the Lexie, reporting of having received information of an attempted boarding and of having arrested a group of armed fishermen, requiring the tanker to make course for the Kochi arbour in order to identify the authors of the aggression. The Commander of the Lexie consults the Ministry of Defense (who, by way

of the Italian Navy, recommends not to change the course) and the shipping company; the shipping company (perhaps due to the high freight contracts awarded by local enterprises) authorizes the change of course. At 19:15L the tanker changes its course to make for the Kochi harbor. Once in the Harbor, the Lexie is escorted to the mooring by Indian destroyers Samar and Lakshimi Bhai, as well as by a Do-228 Coast Guard recognizance plane and several patrol boats. Once moored, the Marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who opened fire during the encounter with the hostile vessel, are disembarked (it is not known on which basis or who has authorized the disembark from Italian soil) and taken into custody on charges of homicide of two fishermen of the fishing boat St. Anthony.

The testimony of the prosecutors

Indian Coast Guard, at approximately 18:20L time, is warned of the alarm of the St. Anthony’s crew, returned to port with corpses of two fishermen died of shot wounds and, by means of radar and AIS, tracks five ships cruising in the area which, due to their course and speed, may have been involved in the death of the two fishermen of the St. Anthony. The ships are:

- Enrica Lexie; - Olympic Flair; - Kamome Victoria; - MSC Don Giovanni; - Ocean Breeze;

All of the mentioned five ships are contacted via radio but only the Erica Lexie replies. During the deposition, given on the following day, on February the 16th, the nine surviving fishermen could not give informations concerning the accident since, apart from their two colleagues killed on the deck during their watch duty, they were all resting and could therefore not give account of the dynamic of the facts nor a description of the ship where the fatal bullets originated from. Six days later, on February the 22nd, the fishermen change their testimony by means of a Mr. Freddie Bosco, identifying himself as the ship-owner and Commander of the St. Anthony. Mr. Bosco declares that the fishing boat was subject to continuous gunfire for at least two minutes, the gunfire originating from a ship black and red in color, without possibility of a certain identification since the men were busy finding shelter from the bullets (Mr. Bosco will confirm this thesis also on his testimony on March the 22nd); Furthermore the witness changes the place of one of the deceased, placing one of them at the stern instead of the bridge. It is questionable why the fitness did not refer his version immediately after the facts instead of waiting six days while contradicting his previous testimony, the one where he was sleeping during the gunfire. It should be noted that the version of the facts changed totally after seven days of the accident and that, at that time, the Lexie was still moored at Kochi harbor.

1th ANALYSIS – Identification of the ships and the testimonies From the testimony of the ship-owner of the St. Anthony two elements are inferred: 1 – the shots are explode from a ship black and red in color; 2 – The shooting lasted no less than two minutes; Let’s analyze the two elements. 1 – It has been ascertained that the ships in the area were five and, apart from the Ocean Breeze (a passenger ship), four of them are practically identical in color (black and red), by type (freighters), by their superstructures and dimensions. Here below the photos of the ships in object:

Enrica Lexie

MSC Don Giovanni

Olympic Flair

Kamome Victoria

Ocean Breeze

If we cover the names of the ships, with the exception of the Ocean Breeze, it would be impossible to tell them apart. It is questionable how the public prosecutor could have convalidated the testimony of Mr. Bosco with regards to the identification of the ship since the lack of absolute certainty, given also the fact that the Coast Guard identified five possible ships whose course and speed is consistent with the Fishermen (first) story. It is arguable that Mr. Bosco’s testimony is unreliable and should not have been used during the investigation.

2 – a continuous gunfire lasting less than two minutes (as recounted by Mr. Bosco) from an effective firing range would have been unsustainable by the fishing boat which, by any means, would have been completely destroyed whereas the pictures taken after the accident show that the St. Anthony is substantially undamaged.

2nd ANALYSIS – Position, course and speed of the ships involved in the facts

In order to have a clearer idea of the dynamics of the accident and in order to verify the veracity of the testimonies the first step is to ascertain the position, course, hour and manouvres of the ships involved in the facts, specifically the tanker Erica Lexie, the fishing boat St. Anthony and the Olympic Fair, a third ship which may also have been involved in the accident as we will see later. In order to determine the needed informations I have analyzed the data I had by means of Google Earth, reconstructing the positions and movements of the Lexie, the St. Anthony and the Olympic Fair.

Data:

Enrica Lexie: - Position at 16.00L hours : φ 9° 20,00'N and λ 075° 52,00'E; - speed 14 Kts; - course 345° (direction of Egypt); - speed at the moment of the attempted boarding: 15 kts; - Positon when it changed course to Sochi harbor: φ 10° 6.5'N and λ 75° 40'E; - Position at sunset (approximately 18.35L hours): φ 09 57N and λ 75 43E;

Fishing Boat St. Anthony: - Position at 16.00L hours.: 2.8 NM (5.186 Km.) west of Enrica Lexie;

Olympic Flair: - Position: φ 9° 57.000'N and λ 76° 2.000'E;

Kamome Victoria: - Not available;

MSC Don Giovanni: - Not available;

Ocean Breeze: - Not available;

It has been ascertained that the ships Kamome Victoria, MSC Don Giovanni and Ocean Breeze at the moment of the accident left the area without notice. The Indian Coast Guard did not release their positions. Not having any data on their whereabouts, let’s have a closer look at the data we have, the Enrica Lexie, Olympic Flair and St. Anthony:

Lets recap the data: Enrica Lexie: At 16:00L hours the Lexie is in International waters (35.2 NM from the coast and 28.63 NM from the base line) with optimal weather conditions with a course set for 345 at 14kts, on a course to Egypt, when an hostile craft is spotted on the radar at 2.8 NM west of the Erica Lexie. The speed is increased to 15 kts. Once the attack is over, due to the reaction of the San Marco Marines, the ship slows down to 14kts; During the encounter the course has not been altered. The sun sets at 18:35L hours. At 19:15L time, the ship changes course to make for the Kochi harbor where it arrives at 23:00L hours having slow down to 8.25 kts (it takes almost four hours to cover the 33.38 NM). Olympic Flair: While the Olympic Flair is still off the harbor of Kochi at coordinates φ 9° 57.000'N and λ 76° 2.000'E, she is made object of a boarding attempt by two hostile units with twenty armed people on board. Greece denies this attack but the attack is confirmed by the ICC,

Commercial Crime Service, which has been alerted by the Commander of the Olympic Flair, as shows the graph published and the data on the ICC website:

We have not yet elements to determine how the Olympic Flair fended off the attack, apart from raising the alarm and weighing anchor, but it has been confirmed that after the attack she gave power to the engines without noticing the local authorities even though the attack happened in territorial waters, at a 9 NM distance from the base line. At that moment the distance between the Lexie and the Olympic was 4.15 NM. St. Anthony On the basis of the reconstruction of the Coast Guard, the St. Anthony has made a speedy return at Kochi harbor with the corpses of the two fishermen killed at 18:20L hours, that is when the Lexie has been contacted. Therefore it should have covered 41 NM in approximately 2 hours, that is with an average speed of 20 kts. This does not seem likely for a series of reasons:

1 – a fishing boat has normally a displacing hull, that is the part of the ship beneath the sea level is completely submerged; This type of hull allows for a good stability but reduced speed. It is unlikely that a fishing boat may have the speed of a motorboat. Anyhow it should be easy to verify if the St. Anthony, in similar optimal weather condition, is able to cover the 41NM in approximately two hours; 2 – The Coast Guard declared that the St. Anthony reached the Koch harbor at 18:20L hours, therefore, since the sunset on that day was at 18:35L and that the twilight lasted about ten more minutes, we should conclude that, when mooring, there was sufficient afternoon light. But observing the video published by a local television and published on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPdvQ0q5oXk, it is clearly night.

Hence it is unlikely that St. Anthony moored at Kochi harbor at 18:20L hours. As a matter of fact, several media spread the news that the St. Anthony arrived at Kochi at approximately 22:30L hours, which seems more realistic. But if the 22:30L arrival time is correct, it is apparent that the St. Anthony could not have sustained a 20 kts speed; infact, if she has covered 41 NM in six and half hours the average speed is 6.5 kts, which is in line with cruising speed for fishing boats of that type (which normally do not achieve more than 10-12 kts, depending on the engines installed and the hull type). But at that low speed the St. Anthony could never have managed to pursue nor attack the Enrica Lexie, which has a cruising speed of 14kts.

To avoid confusion, lets recap the data and the analysis: 1 – The Enrica Lexie at 16:00L is attacked but fends off the attack and continues on its course; 2 – The St. Anthony does not return to port at 18:20 as declared by the Coast Guard but after the sunset (18:35L hours) and anyhow in darkness, as notices on the footage reported above. According to media, the St. Anthony arrives at Kochi at 22:30L hours. The following reasoning is plausible: If the St. Anthony did not return to port at 18:20L but much later, where are the armed fishermen supposedly arrested by the Coast Guard at that time since they are not the fishermen of the St. Anthony? Why did the local Government put under arrest the Italian Marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone for the killing of two fishermen when it is obvious that there has not been any shooting? Observing again the graph that reconstructs the positions of the ships in the area, it is possible to make the hypothesis that, since the St. Anthony returned to port during the darkness hours after sunset, given the real estimated speed of the St. Anthony and the time of the attack suffered by the Olympic Flair, the fishing boat may have been involved in the attack on the Greek ship, with the known tragic consequences. But then: how is it possible that the Indian aero-naval forces, which were sailing towards the Lexie and in sight of the Olympic, obviously equipped with radar, did not notice the attack of two hostile vessels? It is anyhow to notice that the Lexie and the Olympic are practically identical, as it’s shown by the following images from Libero Reporter:

Hence an identification error appears probable. These simple arguments should be sufficient in demonstrating the complete innocence of the San Marco Marines but the mere analysis of the ships position and course plots, although clearly demonstrate the arguments validity, would need to be backed-up by a second analysis, such as the ballistic exam. During the training with the San Marco Regiment, I have personally been thoroughly trained on the following weapons:

- M.A.B. 38 – Moschetto automatico Beretta – cal. 9 x 19 mm (Fiocchi e Parabellum) –obsolete and not used anymore;

- F.A.L. – Beretta BM59 Fucile Automatico leggero – cal. 7,62 x 51 mm NATO (in-service up until the early 90s, nowadays used for training);

- Beretta AR 70/90 – cal. 5,56 x 45 mm NATO; - MG 42/59 – cal. 7,62 x 51 mm NATO; - Hand Grenade S.R.C.M. mod. 35; - Beretta 92FS – cal. 9 x 19 mm;

and more recently, for sport activities, with:

- Carabine cal. .22; - Pistol cal. 9 x 21 mm; - Revolver cal. 38; - Pistol cal. .22;

It has been very interesting to compare the ballistic data of the AR 70/90 with the data produced by the legal coroner that performed the autopsy and those derived from the images of the signs left by the bullets on the fishing boat and on the corpses of the dead fishermen. This comparison has yielded some remarkable results.

3a ANALYSIS – BALLISTIC EXAM. The San Marco Regiment Marines are equipped, as other NATO armed services, with Beretta AR 70/90 rifles, which adopt 5,56 x 45 mm NATO bullets.

Apart from the 5,56 caliber AR 70/90, also the American M16 is used. This is one of the most widely produced and adopted weapons of its class in the world, due to its easy use as well as its reliability record (as for the AK47) and it’s used also in India and Sri Lanka, as it’s shown in the following graph:

Therefore, even if bullets of the caliber used in the AR 70/90 were to be found on board of the St. Anthony or on the corpses of the dead fishermen, this would not automatically prove anything. A ballistic examination of the weapons used by the Marines should be performed, since the St. Anthony was fishing in the Palk straits, where shoot-outs between Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen are tragically usual (the last known such accident happened on the March 16th 2012, leaving 16 wounded) and both are known to be using M16 rifles. But apparently things have gone differently. On February 24th, the assistant police officer Shajadan Firoz declares that “in the fishermen corpses two 0,54 inches bullets, compatible with several weapons, have been found”. Such a caliber, corresponding with 13.7 mm, is not used anymore (it was widely used in forward-loading rifles of the XIX century), hence two hypotheses can be made on such error:

1 – The true caliber is the .55 (corresponding to 13.9 mm) used by the Boys MK1 AT Rifle, an English produced anti-tank rifle, used during the second world war and whose production ceased in 1943; 2 – the true caliber is .50 (12.7 mm) widely used today on precision rifles such as the McMillan Tac 50, the Barrett M82 and the Browning M2 machine-gun. Neither caliber is used by the San Marco Regiment Marines assault rifles which adopt the 5.56mm NATO caliber. The McMillan Tac 50:

The Browning M2:

The Barrett M-82:

The autopsy performed on the bodies of the fishermen by doctor Sasikala, legal M.D. professor at Trivadum, reports that “the metallic bullet found in the skull of the fisherman is 3.1 centimeters in length, 2 centimeters in circumference at the top and 2.4 centimeters at the basis” (CIRCUMFERENCE AND NOT CALIBER). The very interesting circumferential dimension tells us a lot about the bullet we’re dealing with. Applying the formula R=C/2π it is possible to compute the radius, and hence the diameter, of the bullet and the result is 7.64 mm, which can be easily assimilated to the 7.62 x 54R bullet, due to inaccurate measurement or impact deformation. Several versions of this caliber bullet exist, with different length:

- 7,62x54R; - 7,62x39; - 7,62x25; - 7,92×57 mm Mauser (data reported for comparison);

In the following picture the differences between the 57 Mauser (on the left), the 54R (center) and the 39 (on the right) are highlighted:

Focusing on the 7.62 x 54R, this bullet was originally developed for the Mosin-Nagant rifle (still used today):

This bullet was used since the tsarist era till today. Today is used both on machine-guns and bolt-action semi-automatic rifles, such as the soviet SVT 40 (not produced anymore but still used):

the soviet Dragunov:

and the soviet machine-gun PK, still in production:

We have therefore four different weapons, still used, which use the same caliber bullet as the one under scrutiny. In the following picture the difference between the .50, the 7.62 mm and the 5.56 mm NATO can be seen:

The difference is obviously quite major. In the following picture it is possible to have a more precise comparison between the 5.56mm NATO, used by the AR 70/90 and the 7.62 mm referenced to in the autopsy. It is quite clear that the two calibers have largely different dimensions, hence they cannot be mistaken:

Furthermore, it is interesting to point out two details: 1 – The “Panorama” magazine shows a picture of the St. Anthony where the damage inflicted by the bullets is noticeable:

From this picture it can be noticed the caliber of the weapon (already from a visual inspection it can be found to be compatible with a .50 caliber bullet hence with weapons firing .55, .50 and 7,62 x 54R caliber bullets). Furthermore the shots appear to have been fired from below, not from above, as it would have been the case if they were fired from the Enrica Lexie. 2 – The already mentioned YouTube clip showing the bodies of the two dead fishermen, clearly show the dimensions of the bullet hole, substantially larger than a 5.56 mm NATO:

Given all of the above, from the analysis of the ship positions and maneuvers and the ballistic analysis, it appears clear that the Marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone are alien to the tragic facts. It is not clear why they are being held prisoner nor is it clear why the Indian authorities are continuously extending their custody terms. One thing is clear. The “conclusive evidences”, vaunted by Kerala State Prime Minister, Mr. Oommen Chandy, crumble like a sand castle. Licata, December 10 2012. _________________________________________________________________________________________________

Marco Angelo Zimmile was born in Catania on October the 21st 1977. He served in the Italian Navy as Marine, trained in the San Marco Regiment. Today he is a labor consultant and is a volunteer of the Civil Protection, in the Auxiliary Coast Guard NGO in Licata, where he acts in his capacity of professor of navigation and maritime rescue, commander of sea-borne ambulance and aero-naval field officer. He is also part of the fire-fighting and diving team. As a volunteer he took part in several operations such as coast guard, refugee and shipwreck rescue, Abruzzo 2009 earthquake. He is member of: Italian Sailors National Association, group Antonino Lo Vacco - Licata; National Union of Officers on leave of Italy, group of Licata; Italian Naval League, section of Licata; Auxiliary Coast Guard NGO – Licata;

The author posing during the XVII Italian Sailors National Association (ANMI) National Rally in Reggio Calabria.

Cited references:

- Analisi Crisi Italia /India - Vicenda della petroliera Enrica Lexie - Engineer Luigi Di Stefano; - Ministero degli Affari Esteri; - Ministero della Difesa; - Marina Militare Italiana - Sito Ufficiale; - Ansa; - Corriere della Sera; - Repubblica; - Il Giornale; - La Stampa; - Asianews.it; - TgCom; - Oggi;

- icc-ccs.org; - Gens Maris.com; - Panorama; - The Times Of India; - defencetalk.com; - Libero Reporter; - Wikipedia; - CNN; - BBC; - The Indian Express; - Vessel Tracker.com; - Marine Traffic.com