82 British Tourists Successfully Rescued After Their Boat Went Up In Flames Near Greece

Tourists were left traumatised after their wooden boat caught fire near the Greek island of Rhodes. They had to jump into the cold water when the fire broke out and rapidly spread across the boat.

Video Credits: Daily Mail 

Although the boat was caught in flames, fortunately, all the 82 tourists onboard were saved.

The boat was around 300 m from Stegna Beach in Archangelos when this incident occurred.

Video taken by a witness shows the boat surrounded by flames with thick plumes of grey and black smoke. The fire was massive, which eventually wreaked havoc and destroyed the boat entirely, leading to its sinking in the Greek waters.

Though all passengers were safely taken to land, including children, the latter was quite scared.

The disaster occurred on 29th June, and fire services were called immediately.

One of the tourists named Shaun Williams, aged 55, from Cornwall, stated they were around 30 minutes into the trip when they saw smoke coming from the boat.

Mr Williams said: “We were on the top deck, and the crew started shouting, but we could not understand. We then saw the smoke. The crew tried to fight the fire, but the boat was made of wood, and the fire grew quickly.

They started handing out life jackets, and a minute later, the captain said we all need to get in the sea.”

He continued: “There were families with young children and a lot of panicking. We could not get down the stairs and had to climb over the top bannister and drop to the lower deck.”

After seeing the fire, he understood the situation was terrible and encouraged his family and fellow passengers to jump into the water immediately.

The passengers were soon reduced from the waters by boats sent by local authorities, after which they were sent to their hotel.

The British Consulate called Mr Williams to check on him and his family later, and he also gave his statement to the Port Police. He said they did not sustain any injuries, but his 9-year-old son was quite scared and traumatised by this incident.

References: dailymail, mirror, express

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