A missing passenger has been found alive and evacuated on the burning Italian ferry off the Greek island of Corfu. The coastguard said this to the AFP news agency on Sunday morning.
The 21-year-old man, who claims to be from Belarus, was found unharmed at the back of the ship, according to the coast guard source. “Tell me I’m still alive!” he shouted at the rescuers, reports the news site Proto Theme†
The man, barefoot and wearing gray shorts and a black t-shirt, was located by rescuers, according to Greek authorities. They sailed to the ferry on Sunday morning and managed to evacuate him with a ladder. He is one of 12 missing truck drivers, a coastguard official confirmed to the news agency. Rescuers hope the rescued passenger can provide information about the other missing, who may be trapped by the fire on the ferry from which thick clouds of smoke came out Sunday morning.
Emergency services are not yet able to search the ship because of the fire. Helicopters and various ships are combing the area, and a fire extinguisher and several tugs have also been deployed. The Dutch salvage company Boskalis has sent twelve experts to Greece to help.
Twelve missing persons
The Greek coast guard previously stated that the missing truck drivers are from Bulgaria (7), Greece (3) and the rest from Turkey and Lithuania. A number of rescued truckers told Greek media that some drivers preferred to sleep in their trucks because the sleeping quarters on board were overcrowded.
The 183-meter-long ship caught fire on Friday morning while en route from Greece to Italy. There were officially 239 passengers and 51 crew members on board. Several ships were deployed to bring the nearly 300 people on board the Euroferry Olympia to safety. Almost all of them had been taken off the ship in the evening. Ten people were taken to hospital for breathing problems and minor injuries.
Three arrests
The captain and two crew members of the ship have been arrested, according to Greek media, but released after questioning. The authorities are conducting an investigation. The ship may also be leaking fuel, the Italian coastguard said. The ferry is believed to be carrying an estimated 800 cubic meters of fuel and another 23 tonnes of “dangerous corrosive goods,” the Italian Ministry of the Environment reported.
The cause of the fire is not yet known. Presumably it started in the hull of the ferry. Owner Grimaldi Lines reports that the crew tried unsuccessfully to put out the fire. According to one of the rescued passengers, it took four hours before they were rescued.
According to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, a Greek trade union warned the Maritime Ministry in 2017 about poor conditions on the ferry. For example, the air conditioning in the sleeping quarters would not work and there were too few sleeping places. According to the union, the ventilation in the Olympia garage was also out of order.
The 27-year-old ferry’s last safety check was on February 16, Grimaldi Lines said. The truckers’ union also complained about the condition of another of the company’s ferry, the Egnazia.
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