1 dead as ferry catches fire enroute to Italy Posted by: Dennis on Dec 29, 2014 Almost three hundred people are awaiting rescue from an Italian ferry that caught fire north-west of Corfu, leaving at least one passenger dead. Rescue operations are continuing despite massive waves and strong winds. The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, said it would be a “long night”. Around 200 people have already been airlifted to safety – 478 in total were on board. One person died after jumping from the ship and another has been confirmed injured, officials say. The blaze on board the Norman Atlantic, which was travelling from Patras in Greece to Ancona in Italy, reportedly started on the ferry’s car deck before spreading. Passengers described panicking as the heat rose, then freezing as they stood on decks awaiting rescue. Lucy Williamson reports on what officials have called “one of the most complicated rescue operations” the country has attempted The wife of one of the cooks told journalists she had had a call from her husband saying: “I cannot breathe, we are all going to burn like rats – God save us.” Another passenger told Greek TV station Mega: “We are outside, we are very cold, the ship is full of smoke, the boat is still burning, the floors are boiling, underneath the cabins it must be burning since 5 o’clock, the boats that came (to rescue us) are gone, and we are here. They cannot take us.” Helicopters have been winching people to safety. Most have been transferred to nearby ships, although some have been taken directly to hospital for treatment for hypothermia. “This is a complicated rescue mission… The visibility is poor and the weather conditions are difficult, but we are confident because there are a good number of ships in the area,” Greece Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said. Varvitsiotis later told reporters the fire had been brought partly under control. “It will be a very difficult night, a night in which we hope we will be able to rescue all on board,” he said. Most of those on board were Greek. Others came from Italy, Turkey, Albania, Germany and many other countries, officials said. A passenger manifest said that two Britons were on board, but the BBC understands that there may have been as many as six. Greek ferry map Vessels try to extinguish the fire at the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic after it caught fire in the Adriatic Sea, on 28 December 2014 This photo taken by a nearby ship shows other vessels trying to extinguish the fire View of the rescue operations of the ferry Norman Atlantic on fire in the Adriatic Sea, 28 December 2014 The fire is believed to have started in the ship’s car deck A handout photograph provided by Greek News website skai.gr shows objects in the sea close to the area where the ferry Norman Atlantic was on fire in the Adriatic Sea, 28 December 2014. Some passengers took to life rafts to escape the burning ship A man is carried by paramedics as passengers of the ferry that caught fire in the channel between Italy and Albania arrive at a Brindisi hospital, southern Italy, on 28 December 2014 Many of the passengers spent hours exposed to the cold and stormy elements It is not yet clear what may have caused the fire. The chief executive of the Visentini group that owns the vessel, Carlo Visentini, said the ferry had passed a recent technical inspection despite a “slight malfunction” in one of the fire doors, Italy’s Ansa news agency reports. “The tests confirmed that the boat was in full working order,” he said, adding that the fire door had been repaired “to the satisfaction of the inspectors”. Ferries are an important mode of transport between Greece’s hundreds of islands as well as neighbouring countries. - See more at: unitedfilipinoseafarers.ph/1-dead-as-ferry-cat…/
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 10:40:25 +0000
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