Greeks shaken by Italy quake
Hundreds of Greek university students in the Italian town of L’Aquila, devastated by a 6.3-magnitude earthquake yesterday, were being put on planes back to Greece last night as the search continued for one Greek man whose sister was hospitalized after being pulled from the rubble of a building. Around 400 Greeks studying in the medieval central Italian town were transferred by coach to Rome yesterday where dozens boarded flights home. Olympic Airlines said it would fly all Greek citizens back to Athens free of charge. A total of 879 Greek schoolchildren currently on exchange trips to Italy are all safe, Education Ministry sources in Athens said. As the death toll from the quake rose above 100, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis telephoned her Italian counterpart Franco Frattini and said Greece was ready to send humanitarian staff and supplies to help with the rescue effort.
