Agency Report

The death toll from a ferry fire off the coast of Greece rose to two on Wednesday as nine people remain missing and the search for survivors intensifies.

A blaze ripped through the Italian-flagged 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, but firefighters spent days searching for 10 missing truckers and recovered the body of a 58-year-old Greek lorry driver on Sunday.

The second body was found in the ferry’s garage on Wednesday evening, the Greek coastguard said.

The coastguard told AFP the fire has been fully extinguished and that the ferry was towed to the port of Astakos on Greece’s west coast to allow rescue operations to continue more safely.

Acrid smoke continued to billow from the vessel as 64 firefighters were mobilised in Astakos on Wednesday evening.

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