A cargo ship sank this Sunday, November 26 off the coast of Lesbos, while Greece is facing a wave of violent winds linked to Storm Oliver. Fourteen crew members were on board the 106 meter long cargo ship when it sank in the Aegean Sea. So far, one person has been found drowned while another was rescued and transported to Mytilene hospital on the island.
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With our correspondent in Athens, Joel Bronner
Due to the passage of storm Oliver – sometimes also called Bettina – the Greek meteorological services warned on Saturday of the risk of a “dangerous climatic phenomenon” over the weekend. Faced with winds that could reach 9 or 10 on the Beaufort scale, many boats remained at dock this Sunday across Greece.
This is not the case, however, for cargo Raptor, who was confronted with mechanical damage in the early morning. An incident which then pushed him to emit a distress signal, before then disappearing from radar screens. Due to strong waves, seawater apparently massively infiltrated the boat, to the point of overloading it and causing it to sink.
Departing from northern Egypt, the cargo ship, which flew the flag of the Comoros, was carrying a cargo of salt and was heading towards Turkey. At the time of the sinking, not far from the Greek island of Lesbos, eleven Egyptians, two Syrians and an Indian were on board. During the day, a rescue operation carried out by Greece in difficult weather conditions mobilized eight boats, three coast guard vessels, a frigate and two helicopters.
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