Twelve missing after ferry blaze in Greece

RESCUE teams in Greece were yesterday searching a burning ferry for 12 people believed to still be missing after it caught fire in the Ionian Sea en route to Italy.

After working all night to try to extinguish the blaze that broke out Friday, firefighting vessels surrounded the Euroferry Olympia, which was carrying more than 290 passengers and crew. The Greek coastguard and other boats evacuated about 280 of them to Corfu.

Photos taken yesterday morning showed thick smoke hanging over the ship, which was transporting 153 trucks and 32 cars.

A Greek coastguard spokesman told Associated Press yesterday that none of the 12 missing people had been found, although she said only small pockets of fire were active in the ferry.

A Greek prosecutor on the island of Corfu has ordered an investigation into the cause of the fire, which broke out three hours after the ferry left the port of Igoumenitsa, on the mainland in northwest Greece. The ship’s captain and two engineers were arrested Friday but released the same day, authorities said.