In Brief
MISSING SAILORS
Rescuers seek five Turkish seamen not seen since collision off Hydra Rescue services had failed to locate by yesterday evening five Turkish sailors, missing since noon Thursday when their cargo ship sank after colliding with a Greek fuel tanker off Hydra. The seven Turkish sailors rescued from the sunken Han said they saw their fellow seamen falling into the sea and believe they may have been sucked into a whirlpool caused by the sinking vessel. The Greek Alios Artemis tanker was due to be towed to Keratsini yesterday following inspections to ascertain if it was still seaworthy. The tanker’s captain Menelaos Goyianos and other crew members were due to testify before port authority officials yesterday. PASOK NOMINATIONS Ex-minister for Athens mayor, ex-basketball player for Piraeus PASOK leader George Papandreou said yesterday that his party was nominating current MP and former government minister Costas Skandalidis as its candidate for Athens mayor in the October local elections. Papandreou also said he had nominated former basketball player and MP Panayiotis Fassoulas as candidate for Piraeus mayor. Chryssa Arapoglou was chosen to run for mayor in Thessaloniki. PASOK also nominated the 1992 Olympic gold medalist Voula Patoulidou to run for prefect of the northern port city. CEMETERY ROBBER Man, 36, took candles, cash A 36-year-old man was charged yesterday with stealing candles, cash and other items from a graveyard in Ano Liosia, northwestern Athens, police said. The suspect was caught red-handed by officers while he had 11 candles, three flower holders and three incense burners in his possession. Police said the unnamed man had raided the cemetery several times and sold the items to shops specializing in religious items. Free transport Public transport in Athens will be free of charge tomorrow between 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. so people can participate in the Athens Fun Run scheduled to take place in central Athens to celebrate World Environment Day. Some 25,000 people are expected to participate in the race, which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. There will be three different courses on offer to participants, covering either 700 meters, 3.5 kilometers or eight kilometers. Deadly rivers Authorities in central Greece said yesterday that they had not been able to find a boy who went missing in the Pinios River near Larissa on Wednesday. Rescue teams had been searching through the night, using sonar equipment, but found no trace of Evangelos Fonias, who is feared dead. Police in northern Greece, meanwhile, said they had located the body of a 52-year-old amateur fisherman from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia who was swept away in the Axios River on Sunday. Bad food Two owners of food stores in Piraeus must appear before a prosecutor after inspections unearthed several kilos of goods unfit for human consumption, prefectural officials said yesterday. The indictments were passed following inspections on 10 stores in the area. Soliciting trouble A 34-year-old lawyer from Piraeus who was shot and arrested after attempting to rob a bank in Palaio Faliron last month had successfully robbed another bank previously, police said yesterday. The unnamed man held up a branch of Emporiki Bank in Kallithea, southern Athens, last December and made off with 67,860 euros, according to officers. Illegal cigarettes Police arrested seven foreigners on board a Comoro Islands-flagged vessel off the coast of Patras in the Peloponnese yesterday after they allegedly unloaded two truck loads of illegal cigarettes. Police located the two trucks in a remote part of Itea, a port in central Greece across the bay from Patras. The vehicles contained illegal tobacco products and authorities detained the two drivers for questioning. Authorities believe the cigarettes were about to be repackaged and then sent to other European countries.
