ATHENS, Feb 24 — Greece’s coastguard today said it had found a third body aboard an Italian-flagged ferry that caught fire last week, and was still looking for eight missing persons.
The blaze ripped through the Euroferry Olympia on Friday near the Greek island of Corfu after it left Greece’s Igoumenitsa port for the Italian city of Brindisi.
Most of the passengers were swiftly evacuated within an hour, but a number of truck drivers were unaccounted for.
Firefighters recovered the body of a 58-year-old Greek lorry driver on Sunday.
A second body was found in the ferry’s garage yesterday evening, after the ship was towed to the port of Astakos on Greece’s west coast to allow rescue operations to continue more safely.
The two latest victims have yet to be identified.
Images from public broadcaster ERT showed the charred remains of burnt-out vehicles in the ferry’s hold.
Three truck drivers — a Belarussian, a Bulgarian and a Romanian — remain in hospital in Corfu with breathing difficulties after being rescued from the stricken ferry.
Among the 281 survivors — 230 passengers and 51 crew — were two Afghans who were not on the passenger list, sparking fears that more unregistered travellers could have been on board. — AFP
