Helicopter saves five from storm
A navy helicopter rescued five fishermen from a battered trawler caught in gale-force winds and a snowstorm in the northern Aegean early on Saturday morning, as most of the country relapsed into a cold spell following the apparent arrival of spring earlier this month. All five men on board the Thalassinos were in good health yesterday, after the Super Puma search and rescue helicopter flew them to the port of Lemnos from the coast of Thasos, where the trawler was abandoned in winds reaching 9 on the Beaufort scale. In the southeastern Aegean early yesterday, the coast guard combed the seas off Rhodes for a boat full of illegal immigrants sighted in the area during a storm and believed to be in trouble. Eventually, the wooden skiff was found beached near the town of Ialysos. Two of the 15 Afghan and Turkmeni nationals who had been on board were arrested in the main port of Rhodes, while the remaining 13 were picked up walking along the highway to the island capital.
