Mafia suspected of sewage dump in Blue Grotto

The Blue Grotto, the most famous tourist attraction on the Island of Capri, was closed to visitors yesterday due to fears its crystal waters had been contaminated by raw sewage, possibly dumped by the Naples Mafia.

La Grotta Azzurra, as it is known in Italian, is celebrated for the intense blue tones and the mysterious, silvery light thrown off by underwater rocks in the cave. The cave's problems have been brewing since reports that two employees of a waste disposal firm at Castellamare di Stabia, near Naples, had dumped 5000 litres of raw cesspool sewage in the grotto using hoses. The firm has the contract for the disposal of waste on the island to sewage treatment plants in the area.

The two men are alleged to have dumped the sewage to avoid paying charges levied at the treatment plants. They are currently under house arrest. An inquiry started last week.

But on Wednesday, the longer-term implications of the affair became apparent after boatmen ferrying tourists around the inside of the cavern discovered evil-smelling cream-coloured scum floating in it. One of the boatmen became nauseous after inhaling the fumes, and some of the tourists said they felt sick.

Health experts were dispatched to test the waters to identify the noxious substances, and police said the grotto would remain closed until their work was completed.

The Naples region, which includes Capri, has for years been beset by problems connected with rubbish disposal, largely because of the success of the Camorra Mafia, in infiltrating the industry. Last year Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi staked his credibility on securing a speedy end to a crisis which had seen the streets of the city, Italy's fourth largest, stacked with huge piles of uncollected domestic refuse.

Yesterday his Environment Minister, Stefania Prestigiacomo, claimed the Camorra might also be behind the poisoning of the grotto.

Prestigiacomo said the overall environmental situation on the island was "disturbing".

"Structural problems, lack of infrastructure, a sewage system that is incomplete, with not all homes connected to it: this is a situation which encourages the infiltration of criminal gangs," she claimed.

But Giovandomenico Lepore, a public prosecutor in Naples, was quick to deny the likelihood of organised crime being involved. "As things stand now there are no elements to lead us to suppose that the Camorra is involved in these latest episodes on Capri," he said.

- INDEPENDENT