Dead Body Found On Burning Ferry: Hundreds Evacuated, 10 Still Missing
At least one person has been found dead in the Italian-owned Euroferry Olympia that caught fire Friday with over 290 passengers aboard, rescuers reported Sunday.
The rescuers have helped hundreds of passengers to safety. There are 10 people who are unaccounted for, said Nikolaos Alexiou, a spokesman for the Greek Coast Guard.
The man who was found dead has not been identified. He was discovered inside a truck that was still onboard the ship.
“He had burns over a large part of his body,” said Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis, a spokesman for the Greek fire service.
The ferry was traveling to Brindisi, Italy, from the Greek port of Igoumenitsa, when it caught fire hours later near the Greek island of Corfu. The ship was also carrying 153 trucks and 32 cars.
Also on Sunday, a 21-year-old truck driver was found alive and rescued by a Coast Guard vessel, according to Alexiou. The man was trapped on the ship for 53 hours and suffered burn marks on his legs.
Alexiou believes that the 21-year-old benefitted from being trapped in the lowest garage on the ship, located below sea level, which helped keep temperatures cooler from the fire.
“It’s a very difficult operation as the fire is still burning on the ship,” Alexiou said. “There’s a lot of smoke, it’s dark and the temperatures are extremely high.”
The cause of the fire is still unclear, but a crew member described hearing “multiple explosions” when describing the incident in an interview with a Greek news website.
The fire reportedly started where vehicles were parked.
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