Hoss rarely gets things wrong but he sure messed this one up. It was moonshine, not ballast....well, maybe he's not wrong. Moonshine can be used as ballast. It's a pretty sickening sound when you land and hear glass breaking though.
Wow, this is tough to hear about. My wife has co-workers vacationing in Italy right now. I'll have to see if I can get an update on them. I don't know what part they are in.