Greek Ferry ablaze with 400 souls on board

[sheme]

Just heard on the News over four hundred passengers on blazing Ferry- difficult rescue situation- will try to find out more- our prayers are needed.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/norman-atlantic-ablaze-major-rescue-under-way-as-greeceitaly-ferry-evacuated-in-high-winds-9946679.html

[MorningSong]

From what I am hearing on the Italian news, the ship is Italian... RAINews is reporting that the ship is circled by 9 mercantile ships to help ward off high winds (Force 9) and huge waves.... 110 survivors have been rescued out of the freezing water and from the one (only one) emergency boat that was dropped from the burning ferry... it is raining mixed with sleet as a huge winter storm is affecting most of south Europe.... people still onboard the ferry (about 350) are gathered on the bridge and some have communicated via cellphones that some of their shoes have begun to melt...

Here's a report from yahoo from a few hours ago:


Passengers beg for rescue from burning ferry off Greek island
By Katerina Nikolopoulou in Athens and Angus Mackinnon in Rome | AFP News – 1 hour 13 minutes ago

Desperate passengers pleaded via mobile phone to be saved from a burning ferry off the Greek island of Corfu on Sunday as rescuers battled gale-force winds to get to them.

But with gusts of up to 100 kilometres (60 miles) per hour making rescue difficult and dangerous, the crew has so far only managed to get 150 of the 478 people off the stricken "Norman Atlantic", Greek officials said.

Seas were so violent that only 35 of those have so far been lifted from a lifeboat to a tanker that came to their aid, Greek Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said hours into the emergency.

He said seven merchant vessels have encircled the ferry in an attempt to shelter it from fierce Force 10 winds, as Greek and Italian firefighting vessels raced from their coasts.

Italian navy spokesman Riccardo Rizzotto said four helicopters were already at the scene and the ship's captain had told coastguards that the ferry was now drifting towards the Albanian coast.

"The weather conditions are so bad we need an extraordinary level of support, which is effectively what is being put in place," he said.

It was unclear if there had been casualties or if there were any passengers in the water, but Rizzotto one 58-year-old Italian man has been airlifted to Italy suffering from the symptoms of hypothermia.

Freezing passengers huddled on the top deck of the ship told of their terror in calls to Greek television stations.

"We are on the top deck, we are soaked, we are cold and we are coughing from the smoke. There are women, children and old people," passenger Giorgos Styliaras told Mega TV.

- 'Our shoes were melting' -

Another told the station that "our shoes were melting" from the heat of the fire when they were mustered in the ship's reception area.

Haulage company boss Giannis Mylonas, who was in contact with three of his drivers on the vessel, said there were between 20 and 25 tanker trucks filled with olive oil on board.

"They are taking too long to find a way to help them. Let's hope this ferry will stand the heat of the fire," he told the station.

Vessels close to the ANEK Lines ferry, which caught fire 33 nautical miles off the small Greek island of Othonoi, rushed to give assistance after picking up its distress signal at 0200 GMT, the Greek coast guard said.

With high winds and torrential rain and sleet, Greek authorities described efforts to rescue the passengers "as particularly difficult and complicated".

The blaze on board is said to have broken out in the ferry's car deck.

The Greek maritime ministry said 268 of the passengers were Greek, with the crew made up of 22 Italians and 34 Greeks.

By 0930 GMT around 35 passengers had been picked up by the Greek tanker "The Spirit of Piraeus", but another 115 were still stuck in a lifeboat, with towering waves and lashing wind hampering their transfer.

- Stranded on top deck -

Four Greek and Italian firefighting ships were on their way to the scene, which is in the middle of a busy shipping lane, as well as four Italian patrol boats. At least three Italian and Greek helicopters circled overhead.

The "Norman Atlantic" had left the Greek port of Patras at 05:30am (0330 GMT) and had been heading to the Italian port of Ancona when the fire took hold.

Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias told Mega television that Italian authorities had responded to a Greek plea for assistance and were now in charge of the rescue effort. The operation was being coordinated from the Italian ship "Europa".

The car deck of the Italian-flagged "Norman Atlantic" was believed to have been holding 195 vehicles when the fire broke out.

According to rescued passengers, the intense heat rapidly affected the rest of the ship. However, passengers stranded on the top deck of the ship later seemed to be more worried by the storm, telling Greek TV the flames were subsiding.

Neither ANEK Lines nor the ship's owners had made any comment by midday (1100 GMT).

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/fire-italian-ferry-bad-weather-off-greece-forces-070816823.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter


Here is a site that is doing updates:

http://en.enikos.gr/society/21619,Its_one_of_the_most_difficult_operatio.html

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

good grief, what a horrible situation;
such suffering in the world :(

p.s. edit form Wikipedia:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protesilaus


Only two sanctuaries to Protesilaus are attested.[14] There was a shrine of Protesilaus at Phylace, his home in Thessaly, where his widow was left lacerating her cheeks in mourning him,[15] and games were organised there in his honour, Pindar noted.[16] The tomb of Protesilaus at Elaeus in the Thracian Chersonese is documented in the 5th century, when, during the Persian War, votive treasure deposited at his tomb was plundered by the satrap Artayctes, under permission from Xerxes. The Greeks later captured and executed Artayctes, returning the treasure.[17] The tomb was mentioned again when Alexander the Great arrived at Elaeus on his campaign against the Persian Empire. He offered a sacrifice on the tomb, hoping to avoid the fate of Protesilaus when he arrived in Asia. Like Protesilaus before him, Alexander was the first to set foot on Asian soil during his campaign.[18] Philostratus writing of this temple in the early 3rd century AD,[19] speaks of a cult statue of Protesilaus at this temple "standing on a base which was shaped like the prow of a boat;" Gisela Richter noted coins of Elaeus from the time of Commodus that show on their reverses Protesilaus on the prow of a ship, in helmet, cuirass and short chiton.

A founder-cult of Protesilaus at Scione, in Pallene, Chalcidice, was given an etiology by the Augustan mythographer Conon[20] that is at variance with the epic tradition. In this, Conon asserts that Protesilaus survived the Trojan War and was returning with Priam's sister Aethilla as his captive. When the ships put ashore for water on the coast of Pallene, between Scione and Mende, Aethilla persuaded the other Trojan women to burn the ships, forcing Protesilaus to remain and found the city of Scione. A rare tetradrachm of Scione ca. 480 BCE acquired by the British Museum depicts Protesilaus, identified by the retrograde legend PROTESLAS.[21]

Protesilaus, speaking from beyond the grave, is the oracular source of the corrected eye-witness version of the actions of heroes at Troy, related by a "vine-dresser" to a Phoenician merchant in the framing device that gives an air of authenticity to the narratives of Philostratus' Heroicus, a late literary representation of Greek hero-cult traditions that developed independently of the epic tradition.[22]



Laodamia was the wife of Protesilaus and daughter of Acastus and Astydameia. After Protesilaus was killed in the Trojan War he was allowed to return to his wife for only three hours before returning to the underworld because they had only just married. Thereafter Laodamia was described as possibly having committed suicide by stabbing herself, rather than be without him.[30][31] According to Hyginus' Fabulae, however, the story runs like this: "When Laodamia, daughter of Acastus, after her husband's loss had spent the three hours which she had asked from the gods, she could not endure her weeping and grief. And so she made a bronze likeness of her husband Protesilaus, put it in her room under pretense of sacred rites, and devoted herself to it. When a servant early in the morning had brought fruit for the offerings, he looked through a crack in the door and saw her holding the image of Protesilaus in her embrace and kissing it. Thinking she had a lover he told her father Acastus. When he came and burst into the room, he saw the statue of Protesilaus. To put an end to her torture he had the statue and the sacred offerings burned on a pyre he had made, but Laodamia, not enduring her grief, threw herself on it and was burned to death."[32]

[Roisin]

Does anyone know what time that fire started on that ship today?

EST preferred time please... thanks!
------------------------------
update... just found out that the fire started sometime this morning.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64ZLYtB-yQA

[MorningSong]

Here's a bit of an update:


Hundreds await nighttime rescue after Italian ferry catches fire

By Katerina Nikolopoulou and Angus MacKinnon in Rome

AFP Sunday 28 December 2014 02:25:09 PM

Rescuers battled in the dark Sunday to save nearly 300 passengers trapped on a burning Italian ferry as coastguards reported the first death in the high-seas drama.

By late evening Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said the flames were under control while the Italian navy said 190 people of the 478 on board had been evacuated.

"It's going to be a long night," Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Twitter.

Throughout the day, strong winds and choppy waters hampered efforts by teams from Greece, Italy and Albania to retrieve more passengers from the "Norman Atlantic".

The blaze, which sent huge clouds of smoke into the air, was said to have started on the ferry's car deck in the early hours when the vessel was some 44 nautical miles northwest of the Greek island of Corfu.

A Greek passenger who had fallen from an escape chute into the Adriatic Sea with his wife was found dead by Italian coastguards, despite repeated attempts at an air rescue amid six-metre (19.6-foot) waves.

His wife was safely plucked from the water and transferred to the Italian port of Brindisi.

In desperate scenes earlier in the day, terrified passengers pleaded by mobile phone live on TV to be saved from the vessel which was travelling from the Greek port of Patras to Ancona in Italy.

"I cannot breathe, we are all going to burn like rats -- God save us," cried one of the ship's cooks in a call to his wife, she told journalists.

Alongside rescue efforts by a flotilla of ships, including nearby merchant vessels, helicopters were winching passengers two by two from the bridge to an Italian ship.

As darkness fell, the Italian navy said that a tugboat, the Marietta Barretta, had finally been able to attach itself to the ferry, raising hopes it could be stabilised sufficiently to accelerate the evacuation of the 287 left on board.

Greek Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis confirmed the towing operation but said he did not know the destination of the tugboat.

Although Albania was "much closer", he said the final decision rested with the Italian rescuers who "know the situation better".

Italian navy spokesman Riccardo Rizzotto told Rainews that the stricken vessel was 40 nautical miles from Otranto in southern Italy and 13 nautical miles from Albania's coastline.

- 'Our shoes were melting' -

Rizzotto said the weather was "so bad we need an extraordinary level of support".

Freezing passengers huddled on the top deck and bridge of the ship told of their terror in calls to Greek television stations.

"We are on the top deck, we are soaked, we are cold and we are coughing from the smoke. There are women, children and old people," passenger Giorgos Styliaras told Mega TV.

Another told the station that "our shoes were melting" from the heat of the fire when they were mustered in the ship's reception area.

Haulage company boss Giannis Mylonas, who was in contact with three of his drivers on the vessel, said there were between 20 and 25 tanker trucks filled with olive oil on board.

The captain of the ferry was named as 62-year-old Italian Argilio Giacomazzi.

"I can't wait to give him a hug," his daughter Giulia told ANSA news agency.

Vessels close to the ferry, leased to Greek operator ANEK Lines, rushed to give assistance after picking up its distress signal at 0200 GMT, the Greek coast guard said.

The Greek maritime ministry said 268 of the passengers were Greek, with the crew made up of 22 Italians and 34 Greeks. But the rest of the passengers were made up of 54 Turks, 44 Italians, 22 Albanians, 18 Germans as well as Swiss, French, Russian, Austrian, British and Dutch nationals.

Among those rescued and evacuated to hospitals near Lecce on Italy's southeastern heel were a two-year-old Swiss boy, his four-year-old sister and their seven months pregnant mother, according to Italian media.

Two children aged 11 and 12 were reported to have been evacuated while their respective parents were still on the boat.

- Ferry passed checks -

The "Norman Atlantic" left Patras at 1530 GMT on Saturday and made a stop at Igoumenitsa, before heading to Ancona when the fire took hold.

The car deck of the Italian-flagged ferry was believed to have been holding 195 vehicles when the fire broke out.

It remained unclear how the fire started.

Carlo Visentini, the chief executive of the Visenti Group which owns the boat, said the vessel underwent checks on December 19 in Patras and the minor flaws revealed had been addressed, including a problem with a fire door.

"The inspectors did uncover a slight malfunction in one of the fire doors... the one where, according to the information we have so far, the fire developed," Visentini was quoted as saying by Italian news agency ANSA.

"This was immediately repaired to the satisfaction of the inspectors," he said.


http://usa.news.net/article/2554391/

And another:


1 dead, hundreds stranded in Greek ferry disaster

By DEMETRIS NELLAS and FRANCES D'EMILIO

AP Sunday 28 December 2014 01:17:03 PM



ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Italian and Greek military and coast guard rescue crews battled gale-force winds and massive waves Sunday as they struggled to rescue hundreds of people trapped on a burning ferry adrift between Italy and Albania. At least one person died and two were injured.

The Italian Navy said 190 of the 478 people on the ferry, sailing from the Greek port of Patras to Ancona in Italy, had been evacuated by late Sunday night. Most were airlifted by helicopter to other merchant vessels sailing nearby.

"It will be a very difficult night. A night in which we hope we will be able to rescue all on board," Greek Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said in Athens.

He said 10 merchant ships were in the area assisting rescue efforts, and that those who had already taken on dozens of passengers from the stricken ferry would remain in the area until the operation was over. Only then would it be determined where they would go, Varvitsiotis said.

The fire broke out before dawn Sunday on a car deck of the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic, carrying 422 passengers and 56 crew members. Passengers huddled on the vessel's upper decks, pelted by rain and hail, passengers told Greek media by phone.

Italy and Greece sent navy and coast guard vessels and helicopters to the extensive rescue operation, while nearby merchant ships lined up to form a barrier to protect the ferry from towering waves. As darkness fell, Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said rescue operations would continue through the night.

The Italian Coast Guard, which was coordinating the rescue operation, said those flames visible from the outside of the ship had been extinguished by about 8:30 pm (1930 GMT), about 16 hours after the blaze began. But the ferry was still enveloped in dense smoke, which the Coast Guard probably said was being fueled by some hotspots inside the ship.

Varvitsiotis described the efforts as "one of the most complex search and rescue operations we have dealt with in recent years."

An Italian Air Force helicopter pilot said smoke was invading the helicopter cabin, making rescue even more challenging.

"With the wind, smoke entered into the helicopter cabin, acrid smoke," Maj. Antonio Laneve told Italian state TV. Some of those they were trying to rescue were very frightened of being hoisted up by helicopter given the adverse weather, he said.

Nine of those evacuated were taken to the Italian town of Lecce, authorities said. Of those, three children and a pregnant woman were being treated for hypothermia in Lecce hospital. Dr. Raffaele Montinaro said the children were in "excellent" condition, and emergency room doctor, Antonio Palumbo, said the mother's condition was also good.

The Italian Navy said the man who died and his injured wife were transported by helicopter to the southern Italian city of Brindisi. It was unclear how the death and injury occurred, but the Greek Coast Guard said the pair — both Greek passengers — were found in a lifeboat rescue chute.

The second injury was to a member of the Italian military involved in the rescue operation, Coast Guard Admiral Giovanni Pettorino said.

Pettorino told Italy's Sky TG24 TV that two Italian tugs tried to attach themselves to the ferry in the evening, but were frustrated by the thick smoke.

Passengers described scenes of terror and chaos when the fire broke out as they slept in their cabins.

"They called first on women and children to be evacuated from the ship," Vassiliki Tavrizelou, who was rescued along with her 2-year-old daughter, told The Associated Press.

"Ships could not approach us because of the rain and winds," Tavrizelou said in a telephone interview from Lecce. "We were at least four hours on the deck, in the cold and rain."

She recalled the ship alarm going off and seeing fire from her cabin. "Then we heard explosions," she said. It was not immediately clear what the explosions were, and the cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

Passenger Giorgos Stiliaras told Greek Mega TV that passengers were having trouble breathing with all the smoke. "We are outside, we are very cold, the ship is full of smoke," he said by telephone. "The boat is still burning, the floors are boiling." He recalled people being awakened by "the smell of burning plastic."

The ship, run by a Greek ferry company, was packed with holidaymakers and truck drivers making the popular transport run between Greece and Italy. Of those on board, 234 passengers and 34 crew are Greek, said Greek Merchant Marine spokesman Nikos Lagadianos.

Other passengers are from several other countries, including Turkey, Albania, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and France. The crew is Greek and Italian.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was in contact with his Italian counterpart, Matteo Renzi, to coordinate the operation.

___

D'Emilio reported from Rome; Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, Greece, and Derek Gatopoulos,Nicholas Paphitis and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed.


http://usa.news.net/article/2550631/1-dead-hundreds-stranded-in-greek-ferry-disaster

[Roisin]

So 400 passengers are still on the deck of that ferry waiting to be rescued with all of that smoke coming out of it? How horrible!!!


An Italian Air Force helicopter pilot said smoke was invading the helicopter cabin, making rescue even more challenging.

"With the wind, smoke entered into the helicopter cabin, acrid smoke," Maj. Antonio Laneve told Italian state TV. Some of those they were trying to rescue were very frightened of being hoisted up by helicopter given the adverse weather, he said.

Wow, how much worse can it get?


http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2014_52/825021/141228-greece-ferry-fire-1251p_8333c13c18478cb40abe0e645e93d612.nbcnews-ux-920-600.jpg

[MorningSong]

RAINews reports and interviews report that 190 survivors have been taken to safety, 49 are in a hospital in Brindisi.... 287 are still on the ship with 2 national emergency personnel...

Tugboats have secured the burning ferry and are still trying to put out the flames by spraying jets of water at it.... with the poor people clinging onto the upper level rails... as if the weather and waves weren't enough....

[KiwiElf]

Over 180+ passengers have been rescued so far, but the conditions are treacherous; the swells are 19 ft high and freezing, bad weather to boot. It makes it very difficult for rescue helicopters to winch people up (and they can only take a handful of people at a time), and for other ships to come along side.

Gotta wonder why ships like this aren't equipped with some sort of automatic fire extinguishing system?

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

my heart is tellin me it's possible that this tragedy will be blamed on an electric car battery
perhaps not...
cnn is reporting the fire started "in the garage" of the ferry. i.e. where the cars are?


Converted Nissan EV cause of fire onboard "Pearl of Scandinavia ...



www.teslamotorsclub.com › ... › Electric Vehicles › Electric Conversions







Nov 17, 2010 - 10 posts - ‎3 authors
Electric car that caught fire on the deck on the Oslo ferry 'Pearl of ... that once a fire breaks out in an electric car then torch batteries dramatically.



Hundreds stranded off Greece after ferry fire
Aljazeera.com‎ - 3 hours ago

... from Italian ferry that caught fire off Greek island of Corfu. ... It was not immediately clear what the explosions were, and the cause of the fire has yet to be determined.


the 'real' terrorists sank titanic too with few the wiser

will they get away with this?

[MorningSong]

There have been reports of trucks that were aboard (yes, ferries here also transport vehicles) that were transporting olive oil... strange as that may seem, it is flammable...

[MorningSong]

Just a quick update....

RAINews is reporting that 49 passengers have arrived on the mainland at Bari (contrary to earlier reports that these 49 were already in hospital at Brindisi).

The Italian Navy has communicated about an hour ago that 162 passengers are still onboard the ferry, 320 have been rescued.....

There are reports from Greek and Italian government that 4 bodies have been recouperated...

[MorningSong]

The evacuation of all passengers has been completed:



Dec 29, 8:34 AM EST

Italian premier: Evacuation of Greek ferry is complete

By ANDREA ROSA and NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

BARI, Italy (AP) -- The evacuation of the Greek ferry that caught fire off Albania has been completed, and only the vessel's captain and four Italian sailors remain on board to assist in the operation, Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday.

Renzi said they would remain on the ferry to try to hook it up to a tug boat.

Helicopters defied high winds, stormy seas and darkness Monday to pluck hundreds of passengers from the ferry as survivors told of a frantic rush to escape the flames and pelting rain.

The navy said the latest numbers indicate 414 people have been rescued from the ferry, and five bodies removed.

The ferry company had originally said there were 478 passengers and crew on board the ferry. Officials couldn't immediately explain the discrepancy between the numbers.

The dead included a Greek man who died after becoming trapped in a lifeboat chute, and four others whose bodies were recovered from the sea Monday, the Greek Coast Guard said. Their identities or the circumstances of their deaths were not immediately known...


http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GREECE_FERRY_FIRE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[MorningSong]

More updates:

The Greek government is saying that there are 38 unaccounted-for passengers.... two more bodies were recovered causing the deathtoll to increase to 7... a live direct press conference on Italian TV RAINews has mentioned 8 deaths.... there is a bit of confusion as to how many passengers were actually on the ferry... there has been mention of clandestine passengers/immigrants....

[MorningSong]

Update:

This morning 2 Albanian sailors were killed when the cables from their tugboat attatched to the ferry snapped:


2 Albanian seamen killed when a cable connecting their tugboat to the fire-stricken ferry Norman Atlantic broke - @Reuters

http://www.breakingnews.com/topic/adriatic-sea-passenger-ferry-fire-dec-28-2014/


Ferry rescue ends with 10 dead, many more unaccounted for

All passengers and crew were evacuated from the stranded Norman Atlantic ferry on Monday, as 10 deaths were confirmed, but rescue teams continued searching in the Adriatic Sea amid concern that dozens of people who were on board the ship may be missing.

According to Italian authorities, 427 people were rescued from the ship but many of their names did not appear on the ferry’s manifest. Also, the vessel was meant to be carrying 422 passengers and 56 crew members, suggesting that once the 10 fatalities are included 41 people were unaccounted for.

Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi, an Italian naval commander, said it was possible others had fallen in the water when lifeboats were initially deployed.

Of those rescued, 234 were Greek, 54 Turkish, 22 Albanians and 22 Italians, said Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi, who could not clarify if any more people were missing. There were also 34 Greeks among the crew. The Italian captain, Argilio Giacomazzi, was the last person to leave the vessel.

“It is up to the departure port to match up their list and the people [rescued],” Lupi said. “That is why we are continuing our [search] effort: We cannot know what the exact number was.”

Italian and Albanian magistrates ordered that the ship be seized in order to investigate the cause of the fire and magistrates in both countries are deciding together where the vessel should be towed, Italy’s Transport Ministry said in a statement.


http://ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_29/12/2014_545800