Smoke rises from the Italian-flagged Euroferry Olympia
(Picture: REUTERS)Fire service rescuers have expanded a search inside a burning ferry anchored off the Greek island of Corfu, with 10 people still missing.
The blaze on the Italian-flagged Euroferry Olympia was burning for a fourth day on Monday, as rescuers gained more expanded access inside the 183-metre (600ft) vessel after containing the flames.
The body of a Greek man was discovered inside the ship on Sunday.
A total of 281 people were rescued. They included two men who were airlifted by rescuers off the ferry, and a third man who managed to free himself and reach the deck of the vessel after being trapped for more than two days.
A Belarussian lorry driver was rescued on Sunday. The man, in his 20s, was able to make his way up to the left rear deck on his own, and told rescue workers he heard other voices below.
“The fact that this man succeeded, despite adverse conditions, to exit into the deck and alert the coastguard, gives us hope that there may be other (survivors),” coastguard spokesman, Nikos Alexiou, told state broadcaster ERT on Sunday.
The Italian-owned Euroferry Olympia, which was carrying more than 290 passengers and crew as well as 153 trucks and 32 cars, caught fire on Friday, three hours after it left the north-western Greek port of Igoumenitsa bound for the Italian city of Brindisi.
The ferry has been towed to the port of Kassiopi, in north-eastern Corfu.
A Greek prosecutor on Corfu has ordered an investigation into the cause of the fire. The Italy-based company that operates the ferry said the fire started in a hold where vehicles were parked.
The ship’s captain and two engineers were arrested on Friday but were released the same day, authorities said.
Passengers described the initial evacuation as dramatic.
“We heard the alarm. We thought it was some kind of drill. But we saw through the portholes that people were running,” truck driver Dimitris Karaolanidis told The Associated Press.
“You can’t think something at the time (other than) your family. When I hit the deck, I saw smoke and children. Fortunately, they (the crew) acted quickly.”
