Rome - A wreck discovered off the southern Italian coast in September is not that of a vessel carrying toxic waste as claimed by a mafia turncoat, but a ship that sank in 1917, Italy's environment minister said Thursday. "It is not the 'ship of poisons,' but a passenger liner, the Catania, which sank during World War I," Stefania Prestigiacomo said during a news conference in Rome.
No traces of radioactive waste have been found by experts examining the wreck, Italy's top anti-mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso said, speaking at the same news conference.
The announcement followed weeks of controversy around the discovery of the wreck.
Underwater camera footage from the vessel showed what appeared to be a cargo of barrels sealed in a way that suggested they contained toxic materials, according to some observers.
Local officials in the Calabria region and environmental activists held up the find as providing evidence supporting allegations that the Calabrian mafia, the 'Ndrangheta, was involved during the 1980s and 1990s in disposing dozens of vessels carrying toxic waste in the Mediterranean.
They cited 'Ndrangheta turncoat, Francesco Fonti, who in 2006 told investigators that he had participated in the 1993 sinking with explosives of a ship, the Cunsky, in a location which corresponded to the area - some 20 nautical miles off the Calabrian coast - where the wreck was found.
According to Fonti, the Cunsky was carrying radioactive waste, which came from Norway and that the 'Ndrangheta was paid to sink it and its dangerous cargo.
Earlier this week, Prestigiacomo said the size of the wreck did not correspond with that of the Cunsky.
On Thursday she said local officials and politicians should show "greater prudence," in dealing with cases of environmental pollution.
