All crew safely evacuated and vessel stable after fire on Greek roro ferry

The Greek-flagged roro vessel Blue Carrier 2, belonging to Blue Star Ferries’ parent Attica Group, caught fire off Mykonos last Friday (25 September). The vessel was carrying 166 trucks and 29 cars, en route from Syros to Samos, and the Hellenic Coast Guard (photo credit) and Hellenic Fire Service led an emergency rescue of the 28 crew members and one truck driver aboard.

“The fire, as it seemed, was uncontrollable and could not be dealt with by the vessel’s own means and by the boats that rushed to help,” said Emmanuel Tsikalakis, General Secretary of the Panhellenic Seamen's Federation (PNO). “Regardless of the causes of the fire, which will be investigated and we will await the results of the investigations, we must recognise and congratulate the Master, the Officers and the Crew, who made a superhuman effort by endangering their lives to extinguish the fire. The most important thing of all is that they worked in an exemplary manner, following all the rules for the protection of human life at sea, to ensure there were no casualties.”

The vessel was subsequently towed by salvage specialists to a spot sheltered from the wind off the southwest coast of Tinos, where firefighting operations have continued.

Greece’s Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, Vassilis Kikilias, yesterday said that the situation had been stabilised, with no reported risk of pollution. The Tinos Port Authority is conducting a preliminary investigation into the incident, with technical inspections to be carried out before the vessel is towed to a shiprepair yard.