At least 13 crew had been lacking and one rescued in a serious rescue operation Sunday after a Comoros-flagged cargo ship sank in gale-force winds off the Greek Aegean island of Lesbos.
The coastguard stated a navy helicopter picked up one crew member from the RAPTOR cargo ship, who was taken to Lesbos General Hospital.
“He is in a state of shock,” coastguard spokesman Nikos Alexiou informed AFP, with out offering additional particulars.
The destiny of the opposite 13 was not instantly clear.
Five cargo ships, three coast guard vessels, air power and navy helicopters in addition to a navy frigate joined the rescue effort.
Authorities stated the cargo ship, which was carrying 14 crew members and was loaded with salt, went down 4.5 nautical miles (8.3 kilometers) southwest of Lesbos, close to the coast of Türkiye, early Sunday.
The 106-meter ship, in-built 1984, had sailed from Dekheila, Egypt, heading for Istanbul.
The Athens News Agency (ANA), quoting the vessel’s working firm based mostly in Lebanon, stated the crew included 11 Egyptians, two Syrians and one Indian.
According to the authorities, the ship first reported a mechanical failure at 7 a.m. native time (5 a.m. GMT).
At 8:20 a.m., the captain reported that the ship was itemizing, and activated the “mayday” misery sign earlier than disappearing from the radar, Alexiou informed AFP.
According to ANA, the heavily-laden vessel was believed to have taken on water within the maintain as a consequence of robust waves, inflicting it to record and sink.
Ships remained docked throughout a number of elements of Greece over the weekend, with wind speeds reaching 9-10 on the Beaufort scale, or robust gale to storm power.
An emergency climate warning by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service (EMY) was upgraded on Saturday from “worsening weather” to “dangerous weather phenomena,” as Storm Oliver (additionally referred to as Bettina) moved from the Adriatic Sea towards Greece.
Earlier this month, a historic Greek warship was broken by gale power winds after repeatedly hitting a dock.
The nation has been struck by repeated flooding over latest months after going through a collection of storms.
Central Greece was devastated in September by cataclysmic quantities of rain dumped by Storm Daniel, destroying crops and killing tens of hundreds of cattle throughout a large space that’s the coronary heart of Greece’s agricultural manufacturing.
Source: www.dailysabah.com