Stormy weather hits Greece
Violent storms throughout Saturday disrupted air and sea transport around Greece and obliged the fire service to pump water out of basements but did not result in any injuries. A German charter flight that was carrying 244 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing at Athens International Airport after being struck by lightning. The aircraft had taken off from Hania, Crete. Two Olympic Airlines flights to Rhodes and Chios were forced to return to Athens because of the stormy weather over the Aegean. Two cruise ships anchored in port on the island of Rhodes were slightly damaged when the mooring ropes of the Oceanic II snapped and the vessel struck the Rhapsody. A private catamaran also sank in the Mandraki area of the island but nobody was on board. The fire service had to pump water from more than a dozen basements in Piraeus on Saturday after heavy rain in Attica. Firemen also evacuated a hotel on Tinos as the building’s basement had flooded.
