Ferry carrying 466 passengers sets on fire in Europe

[Melech 9,900]

 

 

Horrifying accounts of the situation on a boat that is on fire in the Adriatic Sea have emerged from passengers making desperate phone calls.

One said that their shoes had started melting because of the heat, but once outside they were cold, wet and choking from the smoke.

Winds of up to 60mph are hampering the rescue mission and only 150 people have so far been saved out of 478 on board the Norman Atlantic.

Pictures on Greek news websites show the ship covered in smoke with flames visible.

Seas were so violent that only 35 of those have so far been lifted from their lifeboat to a tanker that came to their aid, Greek Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said hours into the emergency.

 

Grainy footage shows the rescue mission under way

He said seven merchant vessels at the scene have encircled the ferry in an attempt to shelter it from fierce Force 10 winds, as Greek and Italian firefighting vessels raced from their coasts.

It was unclear if there had been casualties or if there were any passengers in the water.

Freezing passengers huddled on the top deck of the ship, choked from the smoke of the blaze as they told of their terror in calls to Greek television stations.

‘We are on the top deck, we are soaked, we are cold and we are coughing from the smoke. There are women, children and old people,’ passenger Giorgos Styliaras told Mega TV.

Another told the station that ‘our shoes were melting’ from the heat of the fire when they were mustered in the ship’s reception area.

Haulage company boss Giannis Mylonas, who was in contact with three of his drivers on the vessel, said there were between 20 and 25 tanker trucks filled with olive oil on board.

The Norman Atlantic which is on fire in the Adriatic (Picture: Reuters/Paolo Gangemi)

‘They are taking too long to find a way to help them. Let’s hope this ferry will stand the heat of the fire,’ he told the station.

Vessels close to the ANEK Lines ferry, which caught fire 33 nautical miles off the small Greek island of Othonoi, rushed to give assistance after picking up its distress signal at 0200 GMT, the Greek coast guard said.

It was unclear if there had been casualties or if there were any passengers in the water.

Freezing passengers huddled on the top deck of the ship, choked from the smoke of the blaze as they told of their terror in calls to Greek television stations.

‘We are on the top deck, we are soaked, we are cold and we are coughing from the smoke. There are women, children and old people,’ passenger Giorgos Styliaras told Mega TV.

Another told the station that ‘our shoes were melting’ from the heat of the fire when they were mustered in the ship’s reception area.

The ferry was travelling between Patras and Ancona (Picture: Google Maps)

Haulage company boss Giannis Mylonas, who was in contact with three of his drivers on the vessel, said there were between 20 and 25 tanker trucks filled with olive oil on board.

‘They are taking too long to find a way to help them. Let’s hope this ferry will stand the heat of the fire,’ he told the station.

Vessels close to the ANEK Lines ferry, which caught fire 33 nautical miles off the small Greek island of Othonoi, rushed to give assistance after picking up its distress signal at 0200 GMT, the Greek coast guard said.

 

With high winds and torrential rain and sleet, Greek authorities described efforts to rescue the passengers ‘as particularly difficult and complicated’.

The blaze on board is said to have broken out in the ferry’s car deck.

The Greek maritime ministry said 268 of the passengers were Greek, with the crew made up of 22 Italians and 34 Greeks.

By 0930 GMT around 35 passengers had been picked up by the Greek tanker ‘The Spirit of Piraeus’, but another 115 were still stuck in a lifeboat, with towering waves and lashing wind hampering their transfer.

Four Greek and Italian firefighting ships were on their way to the scene, which is in the middle of a busy shipping lane, as well as four Italian patrol boats. At least three Italian and Greek helicopters circled overhead.

The ‘Norman Atlantic’ had left the Greek port of Patras at 05:30am (0330 GMT) and had been heading to the Italian port of Ancona when the fire took hold.

Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias told Mega television that Italian authorities had responded to a Greek plea for assistance and were now in charge of the rescue effort. The operation was being coordinated from the Italian ship ‘Europa’.

The car deck of the Italian-flagged ‘Norman Atlantic’ was believed to have been holding 195 vehicles when the fire broke out.

According to rescued passengers, the intense heat rapidly affected the rest of the ship. However, passengers stranded on the top deck of the ship later seemed to be more worried by the storm, telling Greek TV the flames were subsiding.

Neither ANEK Lines nor the ship’s owners had made any comment by midday (1100 GMT).

The Italian navy said on Twitter it was sending three helicopters to the scene from its bases in Grottaglie and Catania in Sicily

http://metro.co.uk/2014/12/28/ferry-carrying-466-passengers-sets-on-fire-between-greece-and-italy-5001229/

 

 

Hopefully they will be able to save all the people

[ByeBye49 161]

[KingOfSpain 10,010]

omg 

[Teri Hatcher 2,053]

omg 

[Sia 314]

       

[Qualle1 1,385]

Horrible. This is all over the news here in Germany. :(

[Goosey 3,017]

Interesting, how did it get fired?