Greek rescuers were searching Sunday for 12 people missing after a ship capsized in stormy winds off Lesvos in the Aegean, with authorities finding one crew member dead and rescuing another.
A helicopter last flew over the wreck site at 19:00 (17:00 GMT), while seven vessels, a coastguard vessel and a frigate were to continue combing the area overnight, the Greek coastguard told AFP.
The body of a man was found earlier and taken to the port of Mytilini, the capital of Lesvos, a statement said.
In the morning, a navy helicopter had picked up a crew member from the Comoros-flagged cargo ship Raptor, who was taken alive to the Lesvos General Hospital.
State news website ERT reported that the man, an Egyptian, was found floating in a barrel and was in good health despite head injuries.
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“They are in a state of shock,” the spokesman for the port, Nikos Alexiou, told AFP.
The fate of the other 12 was not immediately clear, but hopes faded as darkness fell.
Authorities said the Raptor, which was carrying 14 crew members and loaded with salt, went down 4.5 nautical miles southwest of Lesvos, near the Turkish coast, early Sunday.
The 106m long ship, built in 1984, had set sail from Dekheila, Egypt, bound for Istanbul.
The Athens News Agency (ANA), citing the ship’s Lebanon-based operating company, said the crew included 11 Egyptians, two Syrians and an Indian.
According to authorities, the ship first reported mechanical failure at 07:00 local time.
At 8:20 a.m., the captain reported the ship was listing and activated the “mayday” distress signal before disappearing from radar, Alexiou told AFP.
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According to ANA, the heavily laden vessel is believed to have encountered water in the hold due to strong waves, causing it to break down and sink.
Media reported that it was carrying 6,000 tons of salt.
“Dangerous weather” warning.
Ships remained docked in several areas of Greece over the weekend, with wind speeds reaching 9-10 Beaufort, or strong gales and storms.
The National Weather Service’s (NWS) emergency warning was upgraded on Saturday from “deteriorating weather” to “dangerous weather” as Storm Oliver (also called Bettina) moved from the Adriatic towards Greece.
Earlier this month, a historic Greek warship was damaged by gale-force winds after repeatedly bumping into a dock.
So far there is no report of sea pollution.
“We don’t expect an oil spill, at least an extensive one, because there was no collision. We are now focusing on locating the sailors,” a senior coastguard source told AFP.
Source: AFP