At least five people died after a car ferry caught fire in the Adriatic Sea, Greek and Italian officials said yesterday, as survivors described a terrifying ordeal that could easily have been much more deadly.
Four bodies were recovered from the waters around the stricken Norman Atlantic yesterday, a day after the body of a 62-year-old Greek man was pulled from the sea.
A 24-hour evacuation operation that proved to be extremely difficult was concluded shortly after midday, with the Italian navy saying only a skeleton crew of nine men had been left on board to prepare for the boat being towed to port.
Photo: AFP
Wrapped in blankets and sporting bandages, 49 of the 478 passengers and crew who were on board the ferry when it caught fire shortly after dawn on Sunday disembarked from merchant ship Spirit of Pireus at the Italian port of Bari.
They and other evacuees told of how the fire had triggered panic that the crew appeared ill-prepared to deal with.
One of the first passengers off the merchant vessel in Bari told reporters he had thought he was going to die as parts of the boat became engulfed by thick smoke as the ferry traveled from Greece from Italy.
“We did not know what to do. The staff had no idea how to get people off the boat,” he said. “The lifeboats did not work, there was only one of them in the water and none of the crew were there to help people.”
Some of the rescued displayed mild symptoms of hypothermia, but doctors said they were mainly dealing with shock and trauma.
The evacuation was completed nearly 36 hours after a fire broke out on the car deck and left the huge vessel drifting dangerously in high seas off the coast of Albania.
With a second navy boat at the scene able to provide a landing deck for helicopters, the pace of the evacuation accelerated significantly yesterday. Once it was complete, questions began to be asked about how the fire started and why it was not contained.
Bari prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe announced a criminal investigation that will seek to establish if negligence contributed to the disaster.
The ferry’s owner, Italian Carlo Visentini, said he would cooperate.
He said that the vessel, which was leased to Greek operator ANEK ferries, had passed a technical inspection which included its firedoors on Dec. 19.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS