Solely one in every of 14 crew members discovered from the sunk cargo ship Raptor as Storm Oliver pummels the Mediterranean coast.
A significant rescue operation is underneath approach after a cargo ship carrying 14 crew members and a load of salt, sank off the coast of Lesbos island in Greece as high-speed winds tilted the vessel inflicting it to tackle water.
The Comoros-flagged ship Raptor, which was travelling from Dekheila, Egypt to Istanbul, sank 4.5 nautical miles (8.3km) southwest of Lesbos early on Sunday.
In line with the Greek coastguard, 5 cargo ships, three coast guard vessels, air drive and navy helicopters in addition to a navy frigate have joined the rescue effort to seek for the crew members, of whom just one has been rescued.
The crew member was airlifted from the ocean by a navy helicopter throughout gale drive winds, in keeping with the coastguard and brought to Lisbon Normal Hospital for remedy.
The ship first reported a mechanical failure at 7am native time (05:00 GMT), however by 8:20am, the captain had despatched out a Mayday misery name and reported that the ship was tilting. The ship disappeared from the radar shortly after. Authorities suspect that the heavy load induced the ship to record and sink as soon as it took on water.
The Athens Information Company (ANA), quoting the working firm of the ship primarily based in Lebanon, stated that crew members included Syrian, Indian and Egyptian nationals.
‘Dangerous weather phenomena’
Ships remained docked throughout a number of components of Greece over the weekend, with wind speeds reaching 9-10 on the Beaufort scale, which means a powerful gale to storm drive. The Beaufort scale which ranges from 0 to 12 estimates wind energy.
An emergency climate warning by the Hellenic Nationwide Meteorological Service (EMY) was upgraded on Saturday from “worsening weather” to “dangerous weather phenomena”, as Storm Oliver (additionally referred to as Bettina) moved from the Adriatic Sea towards Greece.
The nation has been struck by repeated flooding over current months after being hit by a collection of storms.
Central Greece was devastated in September by cataclysmic quantities of rain dumped by Storm Daniel, destroying crops and killing tens of 1000’s of livestock throughout a large space that’s the coronary heart of Greece’s agricultural manufacturing.