Ένας έλληνας επιβάτης είναι νεκρός, την ώρα που βρίσκεται σε εξέλιξη η δραματική επιχείρηση διάσωσης των επιβαινόντων από το φλεγόμενο οχηματαγωγό πλοίο Norman Atlantic.

Πρόκειται για τον Γιώργο Δούλη.

Σύμφωνα με τα όσα έχουν γίνει γνωστά, ο άνδρας βρέθηκε στη γλίστρα του πλοίου μαζί με τη σύζυγό του, Θεοδώρα, κατά την επιχείρηση εκκένωσης.

Υπό αδιευκρίνιστες συνθήκες ο άνδρας έχασε τη ζωή του, ενώ η γυναίκα βρισκόταν επί ώρες εγκλωβισμένη στη γλίστρα.

Η γυναίκα διασώθηκε από την ιταλική ακτοφυλακή και μεταφέρθηκε στο Πρίντεζι, μαζί με τη σορό του άνδρα της.

Πηγή:in.gr

Plane carrying 162 people missing after pilots requested route change to avoid bad weather

Indonesia has halted the search for a missing AirAsia plane as darkness fell on Sunday and will resume the operation in the morning, the national search and rescue agency said.

Tatang Zaenuddin of the National Search and Rescue agency said the search operation would resume at 6 am on Monday.

The AirAsia plane carrying 162 people went missing on Sunday after the pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501, an Airbus 320-200, lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 6.17am (11.17pm Irish time), officials said.

“The aircraft was on the submitted flight plan route and was requesting deviation due to en route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost,“ the airline said in a statement.

No distress signal had been sent, said Joko Muryo Atmodjo, air transportation director at Indonesia’s transport ministry.

Indonesia AirAsia said there were 155 passengers and seven crew on board. It said 156 were Indonesian, with three from South Korea and one each from Singapore, Malaysia and France.

Singapore, Malaysia and Australia had offered to help in the search. Malaysia said it was sending vessels and a C130 aircraft while Singapore had also sent a C130, officials said.

Indonesia AirAsia is 49 per cent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia, with local investors holding the rest. The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, has not had a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002.

Flight QZ8501 was between the Indonesian port of Tanjung Pandan and the town of Pontianak, in West Kalimantan province on Borneo island, when it went missing, Atmodjo told a news conference in Jakarta.

The aircraft had been flying at 32,000 feet and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid clouds, he added.

Tanjung Pandan is the main town on Belitung island, roughly half way between Surabaya and Singapore. There was bad weather over the island at the time.

The flying time from Surabaya to Singapore is usually just over two hours. The plane had been due in Singapore at 8.30 am Singapore time.

In both Surabaya and Singapore, anxious relatives of people on the plane awaited news.

“I should have been on the flight together with my friends,” a man named Purnomo told TVOne in Surabaya.

“We, seven people, had planned to go to Singapore for vacation but this morning I had an emergency. I had my passport in hand but had to cancel the trip.“

An Indonesian woman at Singapore’s Changi Airport said her sister and other family members, including two children, were on board.

“No one has told us anything. We heard the news and came to the airport,” the woman said before entering a cordoned-off area.

The airline said the captain and first officer were both experienced.

Tony Fernandes, chief of Malaysia’s AirAsia, said he was heading to Surabaya with his Indonesian management team.

“My only thought are with the passengers and my crew. We put our hope in the SAR (search and rescue) operation and thank the Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysian governments,” he said on Twitter.

The incident comes at the end of a disastrous year for the region’s airlines.

Malaysia’s national flag carrier, Malaysia Airlines, lost two aircraft this year.

Flight MH370 went missing on March 8th on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board and has still not been found.

On July 17, Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

Indonesia AirAsia has a fleet of 30 Airbus A320s. The missing plane has been in service for just over six years, according to airfleets.net.

All AirAsia-branded airlines operate aircraft made by Airbus, which has orders for several hundred planes from the group. AirAsia is considered one of the European planemaker’s most important customers.

On boad: Briton Nick Channing-Williams with his fiance Regina Theoffili

Two Britons are trapped on board a burning ferry as rescue services battle gale force winds and high seas in a bid to save them.

Almost 500 passengers and crew are facing a desperate race against time as they are airlifted two by two from the blazing decks.

As tugs and other small boats fire plumes of water in a bid to douse the flames, there are fears the ferry will sink before all are safe.

A cook on board has managed to phone his wife.

She told Greek journalists her husband told her: “I cannot breathe, we are all going to burn like rats – God save us.”

And a passenger told a Greek TV station: “On the lower deck, where the lifeboats are, our shoes were starting to melt from the heat.”

One man was killed when he plunged into the raging sea to escape the doomed ship. His body was later pulled from the water.

Anxious British mum Dotty Channing-Williams said her son Nicholas, who lives in Greece, was on board the Norman Atlantic with his fiancee Regina.

She spoke to him by telephone when the fire broke out, but later lost contact.

“People in Greece are saying that their communications have been cut off, so as not to hamper rescue operations which I can fully understand,” she said.

“They’re keeping me updated via the news coming over the Greek television. But nevertheless it is very, very worrying and very scary.

“So I just hope that they will be able to get everybody off there as soon as possible.”

She said she had spoken to officials at the Home Office but had not had any direct contact with those in charge of the rescue operation.

When she spoke to her son he had been standing on the ferry’s top deck for seven hours “in the rain and thunder and lightning”.

He had begged his friends on the Greek mainland not to tell his mum of the drama because he did not want to worry her.

On fire: Norman Atlantic burns in waters off Greece

Mr Channing-Williams, 37, is one of two British nationals believed to have boarded the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic.

The fire broke out early today on the car deck of the vessel as it sailed from the Greek port of Patras to Ancona, Italy, with 422 passengers and 56 crew on board.

British Ambassador to Greece John Kittmer said on Twitter: “We understand from the passenger manifest that two British nationals are believed to be on board.

“We are in close contact with the Greek authorities and are urgently seeking more information.

“We understand that the Greek authorities are working with the Italians, who are leading the rescue effort.”

Mr Channing-Williams, nicknamed “The Horseman” is a competitive show jumper and trains young riders in Greece.

His frightened mother Dotty, from Berkshire, said her son was taking a trip with his 33-year-old Greek fiancee Regina Theoffili.

“It’s hard, because I haven’t heard anything for a long time now,” she said.

She said her son’s friends and colleagues were watching Greek media for updates and keeping her up to date.

Mrs Channing-Williams last spoke to him directly at 11am today.

“He was really good, but then he would be. He wouldn’t want to worry me,” she said.

“As I got up and saw the television news this morning, which was early, I knew. I knew straight away. I knew that he was on that ferry,” she said.

“I know that he was in touch with the people in Greece and he said to them, ‘Please don’t tell my mum, because she’ll be so worried.’ … And then he called me to let me know that he’s okay and that Regina’s okay.”

She said she had spoken with officials but was relying on media reports for updates.

“I told him it’s just so difficult because there’s no information” she said.

“He said Regina’s been amazing, she’s amazing in a crisis. She’s incredibly calm.

“She was going and talking to people, and saying it’s going to be all right.

The ship was packed with holidaymakers and truck drivers making the popular transport run between Greece and Italy.

Of those on board, 234 passengers and 34 crew were Greek.

 Italian and Greek rescue helicopters struggled to reach the ferry as they were battered by 55mph winds.

Men, women and children were lifted two at a time from the vessel and a lifeboat with room for carrying about 150 passengers was lowered into the water.

Greek Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said: “ We are doing everything we can to save those on board and no one, no one will be left helpless in this tough situation.

“It is one of the most complicated rescue operations that we have ever done.”

Greek authorities sent five helicopters and a military transport plane to help the evacuation and Albanian rescuers also joined the operation.

The Norman Atlantic, which was also carrying more than 200 vehicles, was 44 nautical miles northwest of the island of Corfu when it radioed for help.

source: mirror.co.uk