A Greek-owned ship with 19 sailors on board, most of them Filipinos, has been attacked by pirates off Somalia, the Merchant Marine Ministry said yesterday. The ministry said it did not have any further information on the attack, which happened 250 nautical miles off Somalia, nor the fate of the crew of 17 Filipinos, one Chinese and one Ukrainian. The freighter, Captain Stephanos, flying the Bahamian flag, belongs to the Chartworld Shipping Corporation, and was carrying a cargo of coal, the ministry said. It was the second attack on Greek shipping in a week. Last Thursday, the Centauri, with 25 Filipino sailors on board, was attacked off Somalia by pirates in a speedboat, armed with three rocket launchers. (AFP)

A 19-year-old from Artaki, near Halkida, has been arrested on suspicion of raping five women and attempting to rape another seven, police said yesterday. Officers said that the man, who was not named, had attacked the women, including a 17-year-old fellow student, near his home. He has allegedly confessed to the rapes and has been identified by his victims.

Three people drowned when the car in which they were traveling fell into the sea at the yachting center in Aghios Cosmas, southern Athens, yesterday. Authorities said that there were two women, aged about 40 and 25, and a man, aged about 25, in the vehicle. Their identities had not been made public by last night. It was not immediately clear what caused the accident.

Two people, aged 40 and 38, have been arrested in Trikala, central Greece, on suspicion of attempting to sell ancient artifacts for 2.2 million euros. Thessaloniki Police’s antiquities department said that the two, who were trying to sell a tombstone, a sculpture and a marble lion from the Hellenistic era and part of a sculpture from the Roman era, are likely to have been part of wider ring that deals in illegal antiquities.

An investigation has been launched after an officer at the Acropolis police station reported to superiors on Friday that his service revolver had gone missing. The officer said that he had placed the gun in a locker on the fifth floor of the police station on September 8 but when he went to collect it on Friday, it was no longer there.

A man was under police guard in an Athens hospital yesterday after stabbing his wife to death and then attempting to kill himself. The man, a foreign national, had argued with his wife at the pizzeria where she worked in the northern suburb of Menidi before stabbing her.