Fire on Italian cruise ship
2005-08-24 17:09
Athens - An Italian cruise ship carrying more than 2 000 people was escorted back to Athens' main port on Wednesday after a fire broke out as it sailed through the western Aegean Sea.
The fire hit the Costa Classica's stern shortly after 10:00 (07:00 GMT) as the ship was sailing off the island of Poros in the Saronic Gulf.
Authorities said there were no injuries.
"We dispatched a frigate, coast guard vessels and a helicopter to the ship," Michalis Sarlis, head of the merchant marine ministry's search and rescue centre, told state-run NET television.
"There was no danger. The measures were precautionary," Sarlis said.
The cause of the fire and the extent of damage to the ship were not immediately known. But passengers said they saw smoke coming from one of the kitchens.
"I was eating breakfast when I saw the smoke," said 40-year-old German passenger Petra Sitzberger.
"It came from the kitchen. It was very scary ... We stayed calm and moved to the other side of the ship."
Authorities said the Costa Classica has a crew of 580 and was carrying about 1 580 passengers.
A breakdown of the passengers' nationalities was not available.
The Costa Classica set off from Venice on August 21 on an eight-day cruise to Dubrovnik, Croatia, and onto Piraeus and the Greek islands.
It was escorted back to Athens' main port of Piraeus where inspectors were to assess its seaworthiness late on Wednesday, officials said.
- AP