Saturday, February 19

Greece-Italy Passenger Ferry Fire


A ferry carrying tourists and truck drivers burst into flames on the Adriatic Sea early Friday morning, hours before it was expected to make landfall in southern Italy.

Local media reported that some undocumented passengers who may have been in vehicles on the car deck are still missing. 

The incident is reminiscent of a 2017 ferry disaster in the Adriatic in which 31 people who were hiding in cars on the Norman Atlantic ferry burned to death after rough seas caused friction between tall semi trucks and the car deck ceiling, sparking a similar fire.

Friday’s fire engulfed the Euroferry Olimpia, run by Grimaldi Lines, which was carrying 288 known passengers and crew members when a fire started in the lower car deck as it passed about 10 miles from the Greek island of Corfu.

Passengers onboard said the entire ship was engulfed in flames within minutes as semi trucks carrying fuel and flammable goods ignited one by one. 

“There were very high flames, there was panic on board,” a spokesperson for Italy’s Coast Guard, which responded to the disaster said.         READ MORE...


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