Greek emergency employees rescued a Belarussian truck driver Sunday from a burning ferry off the island of Corfu and located the physique of one other man as they combed the wreckage for lacking passengers.
The discoveries left 10 folks nonetheless unaccounted for.
The truck driver, in his 20s, was in a position to make his method as much as the left rear deck on his personal, and advised rescue employees he heard different voices under. There have been no additional particulars figuring out the sufferer, the primary physique recovered from the ship.
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“The truth that this man succeeded, regardless of adversarial situations, to exit into the deck and alert the coast guard ... offers us hope that there could also be different (survivors),” coast guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou advised state broadcaster ERT.
The Italian-owned Euroferry Olympia, which was carrying greater than 290 passengers and crew in addition to 153 vehicles and 32 automobiles, caught fireplace Friday, three hours after it left the northwestern Greek port of Igoumenitsa sure for the Italian metropolis of Brindisi.
The Greek coast guard and different boats evacuated about 280 folks to the close by island of Corfu.
The ferry has been towed to the port of Kassiopi, in northeastern Corfu. Firefighters had been nonetheless battling the blaze in spots Sunday and a thick smoke nonetheless blanketed the ship.
Mr Alexiou stated his understanding was that the truck driver hadn’t heard any voices simply earlier than making his method onto the deck however added “the scenario is evolving”.
The survivor was taken to a hospital for a medical examination.
The acute temperatures in some components of the ship have impeded the Greek fireplace service’s Catastrophe Administration Unit and a group of personal rescuers from looking out the entire ship.
The ferry is barely itemizing from the tons of water poured into it to douse the fireplace however authorities say it’s not at risk of capsizing.
Two passengers had been rescued Saturday. One wasn't on the ship’s manifest and was presumably a migrant. The opposite particular person, a 65-year-old Bulgarian truck driver, had respiratory issues and is on a ventilator in a Corfu hospital's intensive care unit.
A Greek prosecutor on Corfu has ordered an investigation into the reason for the fireplace. The Italy-based firm that operates the ferry stated the fireplace began in a maintain the place autos had been parked.
The ship’s captain and two engineers had been arrested Friday however had been launched the identical day, authorities stated.
Passengers described the preliminary evacuation as dramatic.
“We heard the alarm. We thought it was some sort of drill. However we noticed by the portholes that folks had been operating," truck driver Dimitris Karaolanidis advised The Related Press.
“You may’t suppose one thing on the time (aside from) your loved ones ... After I hit the deck, I noticed smoke and youngsters. Fortuitously, they (the crew) acted rapidly.”