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| Europe |
| Ten Dead, Dozens Missing After Ferry Fire Disaster |
| 2014-12-30 |
| The death toll after a ferry caught fire in rough seas in the Adriatic rose to ten Monday with dozens of passengers still unaccounted for. It was unclear whether the missing passengers had drowned or otherwise died unnoticed or whether the ill-fated Norman Atlantic's manifest lists were inaccurate. Pending resolution of the issue, the Italian navy was continuing to search for bodies around the stricken ferry, which remained in waters close to Albania hours after nightfall. As survivors described a terrifying ordeal that could easily have claimed far more lives, Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi confirmed that a total of 427 people had been winched to safety by helicopter over the course of a 24-hour rescue operation carried out in the teeth of an unusually fierce winter storm. With the ten confirmed dead, that left 41 people unaccounted for in comparison to the list of passengers and crew released by the ferry's Greek operator on Sunday. Lupi said it was unclear if the discrepancy was due to errors on the passenger list, no-shows at boarding or people getting off at a stopover on the Greek island of Igoumenitsa. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 a total of 427 people had been winched to safety by helicopter over the course of a 24-hour rescue operation carried out in the teeth of an unusually fierce winter storm That's about 19/hour, or one every three minutes. That's impressive. |
| Posted by: gorb 2014-12-30 15:27 |