Firefighters transport a body from the burned Italian-flagged Euroferry Olympia off the coast of the Ionian island of Corfu on Sunday. AFP
Rescuers searching a burning ferry off the Greek island of Corfu on February 20 recovered the body of a trucker, the first confirmed fatality, as a 21-year-old Belarussian man was found alive three days after the blaze began.
The 58-year-old Greek victim was one of 11 truck drivers – seven Bulgarians, three Greeks and one Turk – who had been unaccounted for on February 20, three days after the fire struck, the Greek Coastguard said.
Fire chief Dimitris Kontogiannis, who is coordinating the rescue operation, told Alpha TV on the evening of February 20 that the search for survivors would continue throughout the night.
On the morning of February 20, 50 hours after the fire broke out, a man spotted on the stern of the stricken vessel was rescued alive.
The ferry was about 2km off the northern part of Corfu, the coastguard said.
The smiling Belarussian was taken to Corfu on a coastguard boat wearing flip flops and put in an ambulance, television footage showed.
“I’m fine”, he told journalists before being transported to hospital where he is expected to stay at least until tomorrow.
“Tell me I’m alive,” the truck driver, had told rescuers, according to the Proto Thema news website.
“I was in my cabin. I went to the lower deck. I heard voices. I did not see others,” the survivor told rescuers and doctors in the hospital where he was treated.
The news of the man’s “miraculous” survival, according to Greek media, had raised hopes further lives might be saved.
“The ship may still have safe parts for the passengers,” Andreas Korikis, who helped with the rescue on February 18 told Athens News Agency (ANA).
“As we saw, one of them came out and the hope lives on. The search continues but in some places the access is impossible.”
According to the fire brigade, at least 40 firemen were deployed in the area on the morning of February 20 to help with rescue efforts. Ten people now remain missing.
“The thermal load and the toxicity on the vessel remain high. In some areas, fire is still burning. The operation is really delicate,” shipping deputy minister, Costas Katsafados told Skai.
The blaze broke out on the Italian-flagged Euroferry Olympia late on February 17 as it sailed from Igoumenitsa in Greece to Brindisi in Italy, with nearly 300 people aboard.
Rescuers had managed to save 280 passengers on February 20, evacuating them to Corfu.
The man rescued on February 20 was one of those drivers, the coastguard said.
The vessel was officially carrying 239 passengers and 51 crew, as well as 153 trucks and trailers and 32 passenger vehicles, the Grimaldi company has said.
But the coastguard has said two of those rescued were Afghans not on the manifest, sparking fears that more undocumented passengers could also be missing.
The missing truckers reportedly slept in their vehicles because cabins on the vessel were overcrowded.
Ilias Gerontidakis, the son of a missing Greek trucker, told the Proto Thema online newspaper the Olympia was “miserable from every point of view”.
“It had bed bugs, it was dirty, it had no security systems,” he said as he waited at the port for news.
