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Mediteranean: passenger rescued from burning ferry off Corfu

2022-02-20T13:14:54.901Z


A truck driver stayed on a burning Mediterranean ferry for more than two days – now rescue workers have found the man alive. At least eleven people are still missing.


Enlarge image

Burning "Euroferry Olympia" off Corfu: extinguishing and rescue operations continue

Photo: ANGELOS TZORTZINIS / AFP

On Sunday morning, emergency services rescued one of the twelve missing passengers from the burning car ferry "Euroferry Olympia".

The Greek Minister of Shipping Giannis Plakiotakis confirmed this to the Skai television channel.

The man had stayed on the ferry, which had been on fire since Friday, for more than 48 hours.

This gave hope that more people might have survived.

The coast guard is now assuming at least eleven missing persons - seven truck drivers from Bulgaria, three from Greece and one from Turkey.

Firefighters managed to board the ferry on Sunday.

According to the authorities, extremely high temperatures of up to 600 degrees Celsius on the outside of the ship had previously made access impossible.

A fire broke out on the “Euroferry Olympia” on Friday night for reasons that were previously unknown and could not be fully extinguished by Sunday.

The ship belonging to the Italian shipping company Grimaldi was on its way from Igoumenitsa in northwest Greece to the southern Italian port of Brindisi.

After the fire broke out, everyone on board was asked to leave the ship immediately.

Within a short time the ferry was completely on fire.

280 people were rescued during Friday, twelve have since been missing.

They are said to have slept in their vehicles on the garage decks, trapped by the flames and heat.

On Sunday the ship was north of Corfu and was secured there by tugboats.

Security forces fear the weather could deteriorate and hamper firefighting and rescue efforts.

According to the Italian Ministry of the Environment, the ferry has an estimated 800 cubic meters of fuel and 23 tons of "corrosive dangerous goods" on board.

When an Italian coast guard plane flew over it, a “possible leak” of the substances was noticed.

wit/dpa/AFP

Source: spiegel

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