ENGINEERS REPORT THAT FERRY IS FIT TO BE TOWED BACK TO PALMA

Maritime Rescue and Ministry for Development engineers continued inspecting the stricken ferry Sorrento yesterday while top level  talks to discuss towing the vessel back to Palma were held in the Balearic capital.
The deck of the ferry has been  damaged by the fire, and parts of the metal bridge and loading platforms are bent out of shape but agency technicians managed to access the ship on Wednesday afternoon once the fire had been brought under control and yesterday said that they were confident there was no chance of the ferry sinking and that it should be fit to be towed to Palma.
A tugboat has already been sent to the area by maritime authorities, and the ferry’s shipbuilder has hired a second one to assist with the towing if the government decides to proceed.
The President of the Balearics, Jose Ramon Bauza chaired a meeting with the central government delegate to the Balearics, Teresa Palmer, the President of the Council of Majorca, Maria Salom and the Maritime Captain of Palma, Pepe Escalas yesterday to discuss the latest situation.
After the meeting Palmer said that Escalas was awaiting a full report from the owners of the ferry, the Grimaldi shipping company, detailing how it intends to tow the vessel back to port and that the authorities hoped to have received the dossier by the end of the day so that the salvage operation can get under way as quickly as possible therefore minimising any risk of pollution.