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A member of Venezuela's Maritime Rescue and Aid service looks on during the rescue mission of the crew of the Greek bulk carrier Aegean Wind - Source: Reuters -
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Nine sailors were killed and five were burned in a Christmas Day
blaze aboard a Greek freighter in waters off a Venezuelan Caribbean
island, the official Venezuelan news agency ABN reported.
It quoted Admiral Carlos Maximo Aniasi, commander of Venezuela's
navy, as saying the blaze broke out in an engine room of the Aegean
Wind before dawn and spread upward on the vessel which was carrying
iron ore from Brazil to Houston and had a 24-strong crew.
"Nine bodies were found in different compartments of the Greek
ship," the admiral said.
The bodies belonged to nine sailors reported missing earlier in the
day on the ship 61 km northeast of the island of La Blanquilla,
Aniasi said.
The navy's communications office declined comment on the ABN
report.
Two Philippine nationals suffered third-degree burns on their face
and hands and three Greek crew mates had less sever burns, said
Rafael Lugo, the national commander of Venezuela's Maritime Rescue
and Aid service.
Ten surviving crew members, including a woman, were on the deck,
Lugo said.
He told Reuters a Venezuelan navy helicopter lowered a cable to the
deck, picked up the injured and took them to a hospital in
Margarita, a Caribbean island that is Venezuela's leading seaside
resort and is packed with tourists during Christmas vacation.
One of the injured sailors was later flown to Caracas for treatment
at a military hospital, Aniasi said.
The cause of the blaze was unknown and the Aegean Wind would be
towed to Margarita, the admiral added.
Lugo said the lifeboats of the Aegean Wind were intact on the ship,
with no signs that there had been efforts to loosen them to abandon
ship.
The Venezuelan navy sent a patrol boat with paramedics and rescue
personnel to further search the ship below deck, which was filled
with thick smoke, he said.
A coast guard official said the blaze was under control.
The Venezuelan navy is sending a helicopter with navy firemen on
board to extinguish the blaze, the admiral told Globovision
TV.
Earlier on Friday, a Greek coast guard official said in Athens:
"The fire is under control, there is no risk of sinking. Of the
missing crew, three are Greek and the rest Philippine
nationals."
Operated by Athens-based Atlantic Bulk Carriers, the ship was built
in 1983 and has a crew of 24.
