Guardia Costiera Patrol Boat Returns to Garda for Third Year of Rescue Service
The “859”, the patrol boat of the Guardia Costiera (Coast Guard) provided by the Ministero dei Trasporti e delle Navigazione (Ministry of Transport and Navigation), will arrive in Bogliaco on Monday. This vessel will serve for the third consecutive year, providing maritime rescue and assistance services.
Service and regulations
“The service will be active from June 15”, announces Dr. Lucio Ceresa, Secretary General of the Comunità del Garda (Garda Community), the entity that also coordinated this year’s operation, overcoming the obstacle of the lack (incomprehensible given the number of boats that frequent Garda in summer) of legislation to legitimize the presence of the Coast Guard in internal waters.
“The Coast Guard service on Garda – explains Ceresa – is still considered experimental since there is no legislative measure that authorizes the presence of the Navy in internal waters”.
“In Parliament – Ceresa continues – there is a bill that aims to formalize the presence of the Coast Guard on Garda and on the larger lakes of Maggiore and Como. The approval of this bill, proposed by Gardesani parliamentarians on initiative of the Garda Community, was halted due to the elections. We now hope that the legislative process will conclude successfully. Certainly, the Garda Community will continue to advocate for its approval”.
Past data and interventions
Last October, the commander of the patrol boat, Marino Diomede, told us that during the summer of 2000, out of about one hundred requests, 57 interventions were carried out, some of which were providential.
We will certainly remember Diomede and the other eleven sailors stationed on Garda for the two young people found early one June morning in the waters of Gargnano, after a night spent in the water due to the capsizing of the boat they had departed from Bardolino with the evening before, or the unaware German tourist who had attempted a swim crossing from Malcesine to Limone without a support boat and was rescued exhausted.
Technical features and operational details
The Guardia Costiera patrol boat, a class 800 measuring 12.73 meters and equipped with two Isotta Fraschini engines of 400 horsepower each, addresses some shortcomings. First, it is the only vessel on the lake capable of performing rescue operations even in adverse weather conditions; second, it guarantees 24-hour intervention, unlike other law enforcement units, each often staffed with only one crew, thus limiting their operational hours to about seven or eight per day.
Once again this year, the patrol boat will be stationed in Gargnano, at the Bogliaco 2000 port, with a crew of 12 men. To request assistance, simply dial the toll-free number 1530.