In Brief
FERRY AGROUND
Ship hits rocks off Serifos, 266 passengers unhurt A ferry ran aground on rocks off the port of the island of Serifos yesterday afternoon but none of the 266 passengers aboard was injured, the Merchant Marine Ministry said, adding that another ferry was due to bring them to shore late last night. The Express Apollon, which had been on a five-stop route from Milos to Piraeus, crashed onto the rocks while it was maneuvering in the main port of Serifos but did not suffer any cracks and was not letting in water, the ministry said. AIRPORT GUN Montenegrin government adviser charged with carrying illegal weapon An adviser to the Montenegrin Interior Ministry yesterday faced an Athens prosecutor on charges of illegal weapons ownership following his arrest at Eleftherios Venizelos Airport on Saturday night after police discovered he was carrying a 38mm revolver and five rounds of ammunition in his hand luggage. Former army general Nedeljko Boskovic, 64, had been due to board a flight to Podgorica. Police said Boskovic was carrying a license for the gun issued in his homeland but which was not valid in Greece. CAR ACCIDENTS Parents to share responsibility In the case of car accidents where the culpable party is a young person driving the car of a parent, relative or friend, the responsibility for compensation will lie both with the driver and the owner of the vehicle, according to a Supreme Court ruling made public yesterday. The precedent was set in the court’s ruling on a fatal car accident on the Thessaloniki-Kilkis national road in 1995 caused by a youth driving his father’s car. Olympic strike Olympic Airlines flight attendants today continue with their latest four-day strike, which started Saturday as part of their continuing protest against the revamped firm’s plans to cut salaries and jobs. OA is expected to conduct scheduled flights using temporary staff as it has been doing over the last month of workers’ strikes. Unionists are to set to meet on Wednesday to decide upon further action. Fatal collision A 40-year-old man was killed and three people slightly injured when a passenger car crashed head on with a bus on the Thessaloniki-Kilkis road, police said yesterday. Thomas Tsiligaridis was killed instantly after his car swerved off course and into the oncoming bus near the Nea Santa junction, according to police. Of the 15 people on the bus, three sustained minor injuries and the rest were unharmed. Coma A 26-year-old woman who has been in a coma in Thessaloniki’s Papageorgiou Hospital since December 10 is suffering from encephalitis, according to the hospital director who yesterday ruled out bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) as the cause of her illness. The unnamed woman entered the Papageorgiou after falling into a coma at a hospital in Veria where she had been sent after being diagnosed as suffering with a migraine at a clinic in Alexandroupolis. Doctors said the virus that caused the encephalitis has not been identified. ND targeted Unidentified assailants who hurled Molotov cocktail bombs at offices of the opposition New Democracy party in the northern Athens suburb of Aghia Paraskevi on Saturday caused minor damage. Only one of the two bombs detonated. An ND office in the Thessaloniki district of Toumba was slightly damaged just over a week ago by assailants who planted a makeshift bomb at its entrance. Dumped body Police in central Macedonia were on Saturday seeking to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of a woman whose burnt corpse was found – wrapped in a plastic bag and bundled into a blanket – near the forest of Flamourio in the municipality of Sochos. The woman, who has not been identified, had been killed about three months ago, according to a coroner. Car plunge Rescue workers on Saturday recovered the body of a man who had earlier driven into the Acheloos River in his car near the town of Mesolongi. It is unclear whether Dimitrios Arettas, whose age was not made public, drove into the river by accident or whether he meant to commit suicide. Smugglers jailed A Naxos misdemeanors court on Saturday sentenced the captain and first mate of a North Korean-flagged freighter to 23 months and 22 months in jail respectively for cigarette smuggling, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. The Elisabeth’s captain, Victor Shepel, was also found guilty of bearing false witness. Shepel and First Mate Volodymy Izmaylov both have the option of paying off their sentences. The Elisabeth’s remaining crew members were exonerated. The ship ran aground off Santorini on Wednesday. Block fire A fire that started in the radiator heaters of a four-floor apartment block in Thessaloniki’s Toumba district late on Friday night damaged three cars parked outside the block but caused no injuries to residents, the fire service said after extinguishing the blaze. The fire started in four radiator burners situated in the roof of the building before spreading to the fuel tanks and then, through the sewage pipes, to the front court of the block where the cars were parked, firefighters said. Cyprus visits Around 5,000 Greek Cypriots visited the Turkish-occupied north yesterday, police said, noting that this was a significant increase in visitors compared to the previous few days.
