Two trapped, scores rescued after flames engulf Greece-Italy ferry
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[February 18, 2022]
By Angeliki Koutantou and Giselda Vagnoni
ATHENS/ROME (Reuters) -Two people are
trapped on a ferry that was engulfed in a blaze as it sailed from Greece
to Italy early on Friday, the coastguard said, after scores of others
passengers and crew members were rescued.
A total of 239 passengers and 51 crew were onboard the Italian-flagged
Euroferry Olympia when the fire broke out and rescue vessels had taken
most of them to the island of Corfu where ambulances were waiting, the
Greek coastguard added.
"We were woken up around 4:20 a.m. Within an hour we had left the ship
... We were saved by the crew, which acted fast," a Greek passenger told
Skai TV via telephone.
The cause of the fire was still being investigated, Greek authorities
said. There were no immediate reports of deaths or severe injuries. One
person with breathing problems had been taken to hospital, local health
authorities said.
Passengers huddled in yellow blankets on an Italian rescue vessel as
huge plumes of smoke poured out of the ferry, one video showed. The
words "May Day" were repeatedly blasting from speakers on the ferry, in
more footage uploaded on Greek news website Proto Thema.
A helicopter was waiting to airlift two passengers still trapped in the
ship's garage, the coastguard said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/18/images/ads/current/humanesociety_sda022411.png)
Greek media reported that at least 10 people were feared missing.
Authorities could not confirm the information, saying the operation was
ongoing.
The 183-metre (600-foot) ferry sailed from Igoumenitsa, the largest port
in western Greece, and was headed to the Italian port of Brindisi, about
nine hours away. It carried 153 vehicles, many trucks among them,
Grimaldi Lines, the owner of the vessel, said.
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Two people are trapped on a ferry that was engulfed in a blaze as it
sailed between Greece and Italy in the early hours of Friday, the
Greek coastguard said, after scores of others passengers and crew
members were rescued.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/18/images/ads/current/2021_lda_Businessdirectory.png) The fire broke out when the ship was
near Corfu in the Ionian Sea. Hours after the alarm was raised, the
vessel was still ablaze, drifting in Albanian waters, Grimaldi Lines
said.
The ferry has a capacity of up to 560 passengers, according to the
company's website.
Grimaldi Lines spokesman Paul Kyprianou told Reuters that there were
indications the fire started in one of its holds. The company was
making every effort to help bring the passengers - most of them from
Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey - home, he added.
At least four Greek coastguard vessels, four aircraft and the
Italian financial police patrol boat Monte Sperone were involved in
the rescue operation.
"The flames were incredibly high, we were a few miles away from the
ferry when it happened," Colonello Felice Lodovico Simone Cicchetti
from Italy's financial police, who took part in the operation, said.
"The fire was so big and fast that in a matter of five minutes it
became unmanageable for the people aboard."
In 2014, 10 people were killed when the car ferry Norman Atlantic
carrying 466 passengers and crew caught fire while sailing from
Greece to Italy.
(Additional reporting by Karolina Tagaris, Renee Maltezou and
Lefteris Papadimas in Athens, Giulia Segreti and Giselda Vagnoni in
Rome; Editing by Sam Holmes, Lincoln Feast, Alex Richardson, Alison
Williams and Andrew Heavens)
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