Greece To Retire Old Ferries
The Greek cabinet, meeting after a shipping disaster in which at least 79 people died, drew up a plan to withdraw some 105 aging vessels from the island ferry business by 2006. It also agreed to open up the market to foreign operators in 2002, two years earlier than planned. "The government has a steady target of improving commercial shipping policy - people's safety, services and the creation of a modern coastal shipping industry," government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said. The Express Samina ferry sank last week with more than 500 passengers aboard when it hit a well-charted islet just before reaching the Aegean island of Paros. Shipping officials have partly blamed the disaster on the near-monopolies that have developed in the Aegeanā¦
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.
