82 passengers, mostly British holidaymakers, were safely evacuated after their wooden boat caught fire off the Greek island of Rhodes on Thursday, 29 June.
The fire broke out about half an hour into the trip, just 300 m from Stenga beach in Archangelos town.
One passenger told Daily Mail, ‘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.
‘There were families with young children and a lot of panic. We could not get down the stairs and had to climb over the top banister and drop to the lower deck.
‘It is then I saw the fire and realised how bad it was. We all jumped in and I would say within a minute or two the place we had been standing was fully ablaze.’
Boats in the vicinity arrived to rescue the crew and passengers and took them to a restaurant where they could make sure everyone had been rescued. Authorities confirmed that all passengers were safe and in good health and transferred them all to their hotels.
Greek Central Port Authority said they would ensure that marine pollution would be dealt with.
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