Fire on boat from Corfu under control – twelve people missing

Updated 02/19/2022 11:07 am

• The fire in the Italian car ferry “Euroferi Olympia” was brought under control overnight.
• A total of 280 people were safely evacuated till Saturday morning.
• The cause of the fire in the ferry from Greek Igoumenitsa to Italian Brindisi is not yet known.

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The Greek Coast Guard managed to put out the fire on the Italian car ferry “Euroferry” OlympiaGreek television showed that on Saturday morning, significantly less smoke rose from the deck of a heavily damaged ship north of the Greek island of Corfu than the previous day. “There are still some minor sources of fire,” the Greek commercial shipping minister said. Giannis Plakiotakis on Saturday morning news channel Sky.

A total of 280 people were safely evacuated till Saturday morning. The head of the Holiday Island hospital said ten people had to be taken to Corfu Hospital with respiratory problems and minor injuries.

According to the minister, twelve people are still missing. According to information from Greek state television, rescue teams re-boarded for the first time to search for the missing. However, the search operation has been made more difficult due to high temperature. Greek state radio experts said the fire caused temperatures to remain up to 500 degrees Celsius in ferries.

Once the extinguishing work is completed, the ship is to be brought to the port. After that, experts will try to extract fuel from the wreck of the yacht to avoid an oil spill, the Greek merchant shipping minister said. So that the ship does not sail without a driver, there are tugs on site that control its movements.

Those still missing are mainly truck drivers who spent Friday night on the garage deck when their vehicles caught fire. However, it is feared that the ship may also have stowaways. Large numbers of migrants hide in trucks trying to get from Greece to Italy. So far, officials have discovered two such stowaways among those rescued.

Task force can rescue two stranded passengers

Eyewitnesses told reporters on the spot that after the fire broke out, most of the passengers were safely evacuated by the crew in a coordinated manner. Initially the rescue of two people trapped in a deck was brilliant. A special command of the Greek Navy landed on the boat from a helicopter on behalf of the Civil Service. After a while, two people trapped in the boat were picked up and made safe.

The cause of the fire in the ferry from Greek Igoumenitsa to Italian Brindisi is not yet known. First, the rescue operation has to continue, douse the fire and bring the ship to a safe harbor. According to the Coast Guard in Piraeus, only then could the investigation begin.
© DPA