Delayed SOS from hydrofoil?
The captain of a hydrofoil with 75 passengers on board that crashed into rocks near the port of Volos on Monday evening allegedly did not notify the Merchant Marine Ministry’s search-and-rescue unit until half an hour after the collision, when all passengers had been transferred to other craft. The collision tore open a gash in the vessel’s prow and it began to fill with water. Four people were slightly injured. The vessel later sank. Coast guard officials told Kathimerini that the captain, Georgios Antoniou, should have informed the unit immediately after the accident but did not. Instead, the owners of the hydrofoil, Hellas Flying Dolphins (HDF) first transferred most of the passengers to another hydrofoil that was near the scene before informing the authorities. «The transfer operation may have been a success and the passengers… taken safely to Volos, but there could have been a tragedy if a passenger had fallen overboard and if coast guard vessels had not been in the area,» said a ministry source. HDF claims the authorities were informed immediately.
