Lawyers from our office are since 21/05/2015 in Bari, Italy and attend, on behalf of the passengers and families of missing passengers of NORMAN ATLANTIC represented by our office, the process of official appointment of the technical experts of the Italian investigation authorities who will perform the autopsy and investigation on the causes and circumstances of the marine casualty as well as of appointment of our technical advisers on behalf of our clients. Simultaneously there are meetings and discussions with the Prosecutor of Bari and the competent Italian investigating authorities on the next steps regarding the process of entering the ship and investigating the causes of the fire and the maritime tragedy.
The Port Authorities of Bari provided the list of vehicles which are in the lower garage decks (levels 1 & 2), most of which have been reported as not having been damaged by the fire (the list is available here NORMAN ATLANTIC – VEHICLES – PONTE 1 & 2 Capitaneria Di Porto Di Bari – NORMAN ATLANTIC VEHICLES). These vehicles are expected to be moved out of NORMAN ATLANTIC after the investigators enter the upper garage decks and most likely after the burnt and destroyed vehicles have been removed from the other decks. In order to ensure that our clients’ rights are fully protected, before the initiation of any proceedings for the receipt and delivery of their vehicles, special technical advisors appointed by us will examine our clients’ vehicles for possible latent damages from the accident and their long stay on the carcass of the ship. Most vehicles at the upper garage decks of the ship (levels 3, 4 and 5), as it has already been revealed, are regarded as total loss.
