Daily Times

A passenger was on Sunday found alive aboard a ferry that has been ablaze off Greece for three days, reviving hopes that several more missing people may have survived.

Eleven truck drivers — seven Bulgarians, three Greeks and one Turk — remained unaccounted for on Sunday before Skai television reported that an operation was underway “to rescue 4-5 more passengers who are alive”.

Rescuers had first spotted a 21-year-old man on the stern of the stricken vessel as it was being towed to port 50 hours after the fire broke out.The ferry was 1.5 miles (about two kilometres) off the northern part of Corfu, the coastguard said. The smiling Belarussian was taken to Corfu on a coastguard boat wearing flip flops and put in an ambulance, television footage showed.”I’m fine”, he told journalists before being transported to hospital where he is expected to stay at least until tomorrow. “Tell me I’m alive,” the truck driver, had told rescuers, according to the Proto Thema news website.

“I was in my cabin. I went to the lower deck. I heard voices. I did not see others,” the survivor told rescuers and doctors in the hospital where he was treated. The news of the man’s “miraculous” survival, according to Greek media, had raised hopes further lives might be saved. “The ship may still have safe parts for the passengers,” Andreas Korikis, who helped with the rescue on Friday told Athens News Agency (ANA).As we saw, one of them came out and the hope lives on. The search continues but in some places the access is impossible.”

According to the fire brigade, at least 40 firemen were deployed in the area on Sunday morning to help with rescue efforts. “The thermal load and the toxicity on the vessel remain high. In some areas, fire is still burning. The operation is really delicate”, shipping deputy minister, Costas Katsafados told Skai. The blaze broke out on the Italian-flagged Euroferry Olympia late Thursday as it sailed from Igoumenitsa in Greece to Brindisi in Italy, with nearly 300 people aboard. Rescuers had managed to save 280 passengers on Friday, evacuating them to Corfu, but 12 lorry drivers remained missing.The man rescued on Sunday was one of those drivers, the coastguard said. The vessel was officially carrying 239 passengers and 51 crew, as well as 153 trucks and trailers and 32 passenger vehicles, the Grimaldi company has said. But the coastguard has said two of the 281 people rescued were Afghans not on the manifest, sparking fears that more undocumented passengers could also be missing.