Greece announced on Sunday son first deaths after rescuers managed to take at least 281 out of 292 passengers and crew at safety of a fire that broke out out on Euroferry Olympia flying the Italian flag early on Friday, which the firefighters fought for three days, Greek authorities said.
The ferry had been on son way at the Italian port of Brindisi from Igoumenitsa in Greece when it was engulfed in flames off the island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea.
Numerous of the passengers were truck owners or drivers transport goods across Europe.
the dead the man was found in the cabin of a truck in the ship’s hold and had suffered severe burns, a fire squad official noted.
A total of ten people, all Bulgarian, Turkish and Greek nationals, are still missing, according to the coast guard.
Turkish nationals trapped on board and then rescued from the ferry were brought in home with one still missing, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported on Sunday.
Rescue earlier in the day teams found a survivor, a Belarusian, in the back of the ferry, the coastguard says, rekindling hopes that other missing passengers may still be found living.
Firefighters try for days to contain the fire and cool scorching temperatures on the vessel from 183 meters (600 feet) to allow emergency teams for board and rescue the survivors.
the cause of the fire is still under investigation and a prosecutor has launched an investigation, according to coast guard officials.
Reuters footage showed rescuers climbing a stepladder to the ship after a tugboat towed it closer to shore.
Aerial images released by the Greek Coast Guard on Friday showed rows of burned trucks on the deck blackened after flames swept through the ship. The ferry was carrying 153 vehicles, the company said.
A group of truck drivers who survived the ordeal arrival back in Bulgaria in the beginning hours of Sunday.
“Once we were in the boats we saw the huge flames. Everything burned, the losses are big but I am content that we are alive and that we will see our families again”, truck driver Rumen Cholakov told Bulgarian television Nova.
