Ferry erupts in flames off Mykonos as all 29 on board abandon ship « Euro Weekly News

Twenty-eight crew and a lorry driver had only lifeboats between them and the flames tearing through their ferry’s cargo deck off Mykonos on Friday Septemeber 25. They’re all safely ashore now, but a day on, Greece’s coast guard is racing to stop the abandoned vessel sinking.

Flames tore through a garage packed with lorries 

At 8.57am on Friday, a fire broke out in the number four garage of the Blue Carrier 2, a Greek-flagged cargo ferry loaded with 166 lorries and 29 cars, as it sailed north of Mykonos. The vessel, run by Attica Group’s Blue Star Ferries brand, was on a domestic route out of Piraeus towards islands including Samos, Kos and Rhodes when the blaze took hold and spread quickly across the vehicle deck. 

The 28 crew and the one lorry driver on board didn’t wait to find out how far it would spread. They were into the ship’s lifeboats within minutes, with coast guard vessels and firefighting speedboats already on their way.

Blue Carrier 2 is a 162-metre, nearly 24,000-tonne vessel built in 1997, one of a fleet of ageing ro-ro ships that keep supermarkets and businesses on Greece’s smaller islands supplied. It’s a freight ferry rather than the passenger boats most holidaymakers book, which is why a lorry driver, rather than tourists, ended up caught in Friday’s fire. 

All 29 on board got away without a scratch

At least four coast guard vessels, two fast fire boats and a private salvage tug converged on the burning ferry, pulling everyone aboard and taking them to the nearby island of Tinos for medical checks. Attica Group confirmed all 29 were in good health, with no injuries reported despite the scale of the blaze.

It’s the kind of evacuation Greek authorities have handled before, and not always with the same ending. In February 2022, a fire aboard the Euroferry Olympia off Corfu killed 11 people after a search that stretched on for weeks, a grim reminder of how fast a vehicle deck fire can turn deadly once it reaches fuel tanks below. Friday’s blaze, by contrast, appears to have stayed on the open deck rather than spreading further into the ship.

Firefighting water may now be the bigger danger

By Saturday morning the fire itself had eased, but Blue Carrier 2 was leaning to one side, the result of the thousands of litres of water pumped aboard overnight to cool the wreckage. Greece’s Ministry of Shipping called an emergency meeting over the tilt, and anti-pollution equipment was placed on standby at nearby ports in case the ship’s fuel tanks are compromised.

The salvage tug Aigaion Pelagos is holding position alongside, pumping water back out in an effort to right the vessel before a specialist team can go below deck and assess just how much of it survived the fire.

A lorry is the leading suspect

Coast guard investigators believe the fire started in one of the lorries parked in garage four, though the exact cause hasn’t been confirmed. Among the cargo lost is fresh food bound for the islands, including meat, dairy and cheese, and freight firms are already bracing for the cost of both the vehicles and the spoiled deliveries.

Attica Group hasn’t yet said whether Blue Carrier 2 will be towed to Piraeus or elsewhere, or when the Samos, Kos and Rhodes route will run again. Anyone with a Greek island crossing booked through Blue Star Ferries in the coming days should check directly with the company before they travel.