11 missing, two trapped in Greek ferry fire after hundreds rescued

4 yıl önce

ROME — Greek authorities said Friday afternoon that 11 people were missing and another two thought to be trapped on board after a fire engulfed an Italy-bound ferry in the Ionian Sea.

The fire, which broke out before sunrise, sparked a frantic rescue effort that succeeded in evacuating most of the 291 people on board. As smoke billowed from the ferry into the early afternoon, the Greek coast guard said rescuers were hoping to approach the vessel as soon as it was safe.

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Hours earlier, rescuers had made contact with two people still on board.

Among the 278 people rescued and brought to shore, a handful were hospitalized because of breathing issues.

The fire broke out on the Euroferry Olympia several hours after it had departed the port of Igoumenitsa, en route to the Italian city of Brindisi, in what was supposed to be a nine-hour journey. The cause of the fire was not immediately known, and weather conditions were good.

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Witnesses, speaking to Greek television outlets, said the fire began around 4 a.m., and that crew quickly tried to alert passengers and bring them to the deck. Coast guard vessels and other nearby ships came to aid in the rescue. A video taken before sunrise, and shared by several Greek news outlets, showed fire raging across much of the 600-foot ferry, as one of the crew members said, “Mayday, Mayday.”

The ferry — part of the group Grimaldi Lines, which operates a network of routes across the Mediterranean — was also carrying some 180 cars and trucks, according to Italy’s ANSA news agency.

One passenger, speaking to the Greek national broadcaster ERT, said that there was a “domino of explosions” as the vehicles caught fire.

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Subsequent helicopter footage released by Greece’s coast guard showed the upper deck of the ferry almost totally charred, with smoke still billowing.

The incident Friday had some echoes to a 2014 ferry fire in the Adriatic Sea, in which 452 people were rescued and another 11 bodies were recovered. Tugboats later hauled the husk of that vessel to the Brindisi, the same port where the Euroferry Olympia had been headed.

Labropoulou contributed from Athens.