Athens, February 19 (BNA) Rescue teams in Greece searched today, Saturday, for 12 people believed to have gone missing from a ferry that caught fire in the Ionian Sea while heading to Italy, and the fires continued for the second day.
The Associated Press reports that after working all night to put out the flames, the Olympia, which was carrying more than 290 passengers and crew members, was surrounded by firefighting ships when the fire broke out on board Friday.
The Greek coast guard and other boat crews evacuated about 280 people to the Greek island of Corfu. Authorities increased the number considered missing from 11 to 12 after discovering that someone from the ferry was not listed on the passenger manifest.
“A very large firefighting and rescue effort is still underway, as is the search for the 12 missing people including three Greeks and our thoughts are with all their families,” Shipping Minister Giannis Plakiotakis told Sky private television.
It is believed that most of the other missing passengers are from Bulgaria. Officials said the people rescued included citizens of Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Italy and Lithuania.
The fire broke out three hours after the ferry left the port of Igoumenitsa in northwestern Greece for the Italian port of Brindisi. The ship was transporting 153 trucks and 32 cars.
The cause of the fire was not clear. The Italian-based operator of the ferry said the fire broke out where cars had stopped.
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