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Merchant Marine Ministry News

20 Feb 2008

Rescue Attempt for Russian Ship

The Greek navy and coast guard were last night trying to tow to safety a Russian navy ship that sent out a distress signal in choppy seas off the eastern Aegean island of Icaria. Tugboats, helicopters and a navy frigate were dispatched to the area at 11.25 a.m. after the captain reported that engine failure had led to him losing control of the vessel. The ship was 15 nautical miles northeast of Icaria when the call for help was issued. The Merchant Marine Ministry said that, despite the gale force winds blowing in the area, the lives of the 106 people on board were not in any danger. A Greek navy frigate, the Bouboulina, was accompanying the Russian ship as a coast guard helicopter hovered overhead in case of an emergency. Source: Kathimerini

01 Aug 2000

Intracom-Lockheed Martin Announce Agreement For Safety In The Greek Seas

Intracom has signed a contract worth $8 million with Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems-Radar Systems (NE&SS-Radar Systems) for the supply to the Hellenic Merchant Marine Ministry of the first phase of a National Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS). NE&SS-Radar Systems is the major subcontractor of the project led by INTRACOM. The VTMIS will be based in Piraeus and will cover areas of the Ionian and Aegean Sea. INTRACOM, as the project's prime contractor, has the responsibility of providing the telecommunication and computing hardware, as well as installing the necessary VTMIS technology equipment supplied by Lockheed Martin.

30 Oct 2000

Firefighters Extinguish Tanker Blaze

Firefighters extinguished a fire which broke out on the Panamanian-registered tanker Sea Wolf 1 off the Greek port of Piraeus on Monday, injuring one crew member, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. "The fire broke out in the engine room for unknown reasons," the ministry said. A ministry spokesman said the Egyptian crewman had suffered minor burns and had been taken to hospital. The nine other crew members, two Greeks and seven Egyptians, were unhurt. Two fire-fighting vessels put out the blaze while three coastguard boats, six tugs and other ships went to the scene.

27 Sep 2000

Minoan Ferry Sinking Cited as Worst Maritime Disaster in 35 Years

Rescuers pulled bodies from the Aegean sea on Wednesday as the death toll from Greece's worst maritime disaster in 35 years climbed to at least 62. The ferry Express Samina ran into a rocky islet off the holiday isle of Paros and sank in gale-force conditions late on Tuesday. Hundreds of Greek and foreign passengers were hurled into the rough waters. Twenty-nine people were missing, the Greek Merchant Marine Ministry said. Survivors described a night of terror, clutching life vests and floating debris, and of fishermen "heroes" who came to their rescue. An all-night, all-day rescue operation - reinforced by passing British warships - combed the seas off Paros, a popular tourist destination in the idyllic Cycladic island chain southeast of Athens, for survivors in gale force winds.

29 Sep 2000

Another Greek Ferry Runs Into Trouble

A Greek ferry with 1,081 passengers aboard ran aground as it was about to dock in an Aegean island port early on Friday but there were no injuries, the merchant marine ministry said. The incident in Naxos port occurred less than three days after another ferry with the same owner hit rocks and sank off a nearby island, Paros, killing at least 65 people - Greece's worst maritime tragedy since the mid-1960s. A merchant marine spokesman said the Express Artemis, a vehicle and passenger ferry, got stuck in Naxos harbor early Friday morning during a run between Piraeus and various islands in the Cycladic chain, including Paros. "After about three hours, the ferry managed to dislodge itself by its own means and docked safely in the port.

23 Oct 2000

Greek Ministry Lifts Ban On 61 Ferries

The Greek Merchant Marine Ministry has lifted a ban on 61 passenger ferries ordered into port for failing to meet safety requirements after the sinking of the Express Samina last month, Reuters reported. The ferries, confined to harbor since October 1, completed security refitting mainly involving fire safety. Sixty-five ferries were initially banned from sailing until they met the safety requirements. A total of 47 island ferries, nine international cruise ships and nine ferries on the Piraeus-Crete line were affected. Three ferries and one cruise ship are still confined to port. The ban came in the wake of the Express Samina mishap - Greece's worst sea tragedy in decades - which saw 80 people die.

29 Nov 2000

Greek Ferry Exec Plunges To His Death

A senior executive at the shipping company which owned a Greek ferry that sank in September killing 80 people, plunged to his death from the sixth floor of his office building on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Police said Pantelis Sfinias, vice president of the board of directors of Minoan Flying Dolphins, a subsidiary of Minoan Lines, was seen by passers-by and employees stepping off the building in the port of Piraeus. The Express Samina sank off the island of Paros with 500 people aboard in Greece's worst maritime tragedy in decades. Police said they believed Sfinias's death was a suicide. "When the ambulance arrived to take him to hospital he was already dead," a police official said. News of Sfinias's death shocked the company and the Athens Stock Exchange.

06 Mar 2001

Blast in Greek Tanker Kills Worker

An oxygen bottle exploded in the hold of a Greek tanker anchored near Athens on Sunday, killing a repairman and injuring three others, a Merchant Marine Ministry spokeswoman said. The bottle, which was being used for repairs, ripped through the hold of the “Marianna” while the four men were working. “The tanker was anchored near the Motor Oil refinery in Agii Thjeodori”, the spokeswoman said. The tanker was empty at the time and there was no damage to the refinery. - (Reuters)

19 Jun 2007

Greece Fines Company for Sunken Ship Pollution

The owners, operator and captain of a cruise ship that hit the rocks off the island Santorini and sank were fined a total of $1.57m Monday for polluting the Aegean Sea, the AP reported. The Sea Diamond leaked an estimated 300 tons of fuel into the sea since sinking off the island two months ago. Nearly 1,600 people, most of them Americans, including two dozen students from North Carolina, were evacuated from the Cypriot-owned ship on April 5, but two French tourists are missing and presumed drowned. The Sea Diamond sank the next day, with some 450 tons of fuel and lubricants in its tanks. The ship's owners, Louis Group, operators Louis…

10 Apr 2007

Sub to Probe Sunken Ship

Greek rescuers will deploy a robot submarine to search for the bodies of two French tourists believed to have drowned when a cruise ship sank off a resort island in the Aegean Sea last week, reported the Houston Chronicle. The ship's captain blamed the accident on sea currents that swept the Sea Diamond onto a charted reef off the island of Santorini, tearing a hole in the ship's hull. According to reports, more than 50 tons of the ship's fuel leaked after the sinking, some of which has washed ashore. An oceanographic vessel is expected to arrive on the island to deploy the unmanned sub in an attempt to locate the missing passengers and the ship's voyage data recorder, the Merchant Marine Ministry said.

23 Apr 2001

Greek Freighter Crew Rescued in Aegean

The nine-person crew of a Greek freighter was rescued in the eastern Aegean on Monday after they were forced to abandon their ship when it began listing in high winds, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. It said the all-Greek crew, which was headed for Limassol, Cyprus carrying a cargo of timber, were safely picked up by the tanker Matilda. Their Greek-registered freighter, Makedonia I, sailing 102 n.m. southeast of the island of Rhodes in high winds, issued a distress call early on Monday, the ministry said.

14 Oct 1999

Attica Applies For Route Expansion

Passenger shipping firm Attica Enterprises applied last week to Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry for operating licenses on two domestic routes, promising hefty discounts on fares. The company plans to use its 28-knot Superfast Ferries for the Piraeus-Kos-Rhodes and Piraeus-Chania routes, offering discounts ranging between 10 and 23.5 percent to government-set fares. The Dodecanese routes have faced a deterioration of their service after the bankruptcy of local DANE Sea Lines and the failure of ANEK in providing the required guarantees to collaborate with DANE and take over its routes. It also filed with the Merchant Marine Ministry for the registration of its Superfast V and VI ferries…

12 Jul 2001

Turkish Boat In Distress Off Greek Islands

A Turkish boat with 68 people on board has issued a distress signal south of the Greek island of Rhodes, the Greek Merchant Marine Ministry said on Thursday. "It appears to have engine failure but not to be sinking," a ministry spokesman said. He said the ministry had been notified by Ankara rescue authorities, who said the vessel, the Angel, with three crew members and scores of passengers was in distress in international waters within Greek rescue jurisdiction 23 miles south of Rhodes. The nationalities of the passengers were not yet known but the ministry was examining the possibility they may be refugees, the spokesman said. "Although there doesn't seem to be any immediate danger, our first priority is to get them to safety," he added.

06 Jun 2001

Fire On Greek Ferry

A fire in the engine room of a Greek ferry carrying 531 passengers and 111 crew from Venice to the Greek port of Patras left the vessel out of control near the Italian coast, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. It said no one on the ferry Aretoussa, owned by Greece's Minoan Lines, was injured in the fire, which was quickly extinguished by the crew. - (Reuters)

15 Oct 1999

Attica Applies For Route Expansion

Passenger shipping firm Attica Enterprises applied last week to Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry for operating licences on two domestic routes, promising hefty discounts on fares. The company plans to use its 28-knot Superfast Ferries for the Piraeus-Kos-Rhodes and Piraeus-Chania routes, offering discounts ranging between 10 and 23.5 percent to government-set fares. The Dodecanese routes have faced a deterioration of their service after the bankruptcy of local DANE Sea Lines and the failure of ANEK in providing the required guarantees to collaborate with DANE and take over its routes. It also filed with the Merchant Marine Ministry for the registration of its Superfast V and VI ferries which will be delivered in coming months and will be routed in the Adriatic Sea, adding around 200 jobs.

02 Nov 1999

Ferry Fire Kills 10 Stowaways

At least 10 illegal immigrants died in a fire Nov. 2 on the vehicle deck of an Italy-bound Greek ferry with more than 400 people aboard and a search was under way for more bodies, according to the Greek Merchant Marine Ministry. The bodies were found in the garage level of the Superfast 3 ferry, where a fire broke out shortly after the ship sailed from Patras in Greece for Italy's Adriatic Seaport of Ancona. All 307 passengers and most of the 106 crew were evacuated by coast guard vessels and other civilian ships in the area, and the fire was quickly put under control. At first, the ministry said there were no casualties, but when firemen inspected the damage they discovered dead bodies -- believed to be illegal Kurdish immigrants hiding in the garage, who had suffocated from the smoke.

05 Nov 1999

Eleven Immigrants Killed In Ferry Fire

At least 11 illegal immigrants died in a fire last Monday on an Italy-bound Greek ferry with more than 400 people aboard, Merchant Marine Ministry officials said. They said the body of a man, believed to be another Kurd immigrant, was found by firefighters in the back of a truck in the garage where a fire broke out. "We also found two passports but have not verified if they belonged to stowaways or regular passengers," one official said. Like 10 others - eight men and two women - found dead in the garage level of the Superfast 3 ferry, the latest victim appeared to have suffocated from smoke. All 307 passengers and most of the 106 crew…