The Italian Coast Guard informs in a statement that on Friday night a fire broke out on the ferry “Cossyra” whilst sailing from the island Lampedusa to Porto Empedocle in Italy with 177 people on board, 150 of whom passengers and 27 crew members.
The National Operational Centre of the Italian Coast Guard coordinated that a small SAR motorboat and the ship “Diciotti” was dispatched to the ferry “Cossyra” where they carried out the transfer operations of the passengers from the ship and thereby secured all the passengers, including 83 migrants who were moving from the island.
The ship “Diciotti” were also cooling with water the parts of the ferry affected by the fire, and as per information stated by the Italian Coast Guard the fire happened on the car deck of the ferry.
147 people, including women and children, were taken by the “Diciotti” to Port Empedocle, while 3 passengers were transferred with the motorboat SAR 324 to Lampedusa.
Video credit: Italian Coast Guard
