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The tragic event that is taking place in the waters of the Ionian Sea where the Italian-flagged ship Euro Ferry Olympia is burning just a few nautical miles off the Albanian coast seems to have political and economic dimensions.
According to the information of the journalist Artur Bibe from the area of the tragedy, the ship sent the emergency message at 01.12 Greek time and fixed hours later the Italian captain of Euro Ferry repeated the request “may day” while sailing in international waters between Albania and Greece , north of the island of Corfu.
While the situation was getting out of control, the captain of the ship contacted the international channel sos 16 of “olympia radio” to ask for help because of the flames that had covered the ship.
The message was heard from ships sailing in the area, the Greek coast guard, the Albanian guard and the guardia di finanzza anchored in Corfu for a courtesy visit as part of co-operation between Greece and Italy.
The first to react was the Italian ship guardia di finazza “Monte Sperone” which reacted to help its flagship ship.
Subsequently, merchant ships of several countries arrived in the area, but no Albanian ones, as the Greek authorities did not report on the situation.
After the Italians arrived in the area who were able to rescue the passengers and the crew of the ship in the area, the Greek helicopters arrived and the Greek side took over the search and rescue operation which is still going on in the area.
It is worth mentioning that the Albanian authorities were notified during the morning hours about the situation, and only shortly after the Euro Ferry Olimpia ship significantly entered the Albanian territorial waters.
The ship “Butrinti of the Albanian Coast Guard arrived in the area at 11.00 utc, or 13.00 local time, and is currently taking an active part in extinguishing the fire.
Many can call an innocent slip not notifying the Albanian side to participate in the operation, but it seems that the causes of forgetfulness are not “so innocent”.
First from the moment the ship has entered the territorial waters of another country, then the command of operations is taken by the place where it is located, so in this case the ship is located about 4.5-5 miles from the Albanian coast.
Over the hours, the ship must be towed and moored at the port of the country where it is located, ie in Saranda or Vlora, where it will have to carry out technical condition checks and investigate the causes of the fire, but the Greek side has stated that the ship will be towed. in Corfu, although it is on our shores and has no Greek flag, which gives it no right to do so.
It is worth mentioning that no statement of Greek officials mentions the fact that the ship is located off the Albanian coast, but it is said that it is located offshore north of Corfu, which leaves doubts that Greece considers as its waters the maritime space in the area of Dhërmi to Himara, an coveted area near Athens and which the latter still considers its own, although the 2009 agreement on the division of the sea between Greece and Albania does not exist after the annulment by the Albanian constitutional court of the agreement on water demilitarization between the two countries.
In addition to the political dimension, towing a ship off our coast also has multimillion-dollar economic benefits.
This is because the ship is insured and until its final examination, will have to be anchored for several months at best in the port, where insurance companies will pay port taxes, hundreds of people who will perform support work, while many millions of euros in compensation will have to be paid for the ecological damage that it will cause on the Albanian coasts, which paved the way for residents and businesses in the area from Himara to Borsh to seek compensation.
Also, the damages that will be caused to the fishing industry in our country must be paid.
A similar case occurred in 2014, insurance companies have paid associations over 300 million euros in damages for the lives of travelers, businesses and environmental associations of Brindisi in Italy the moment it was engulfed in flames in the same area in an identical accident where they lost their lives. 29 people.
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