29.12.2014

Criminal Investigation Into Cause Of Fire Begins In Order To Establish Cause

The Foreign Office has confirmed that a British family of four were amongst hundreds of passengers who have been rescued from a ferry off the island of Corfu after a fire broke out on board a ferry taking 422 passengers from Patras in Greece to Ancona in Italy.
 
British man Nick Channing-Williams, 37, who is a competitive show-jumper, was among those rescued from the ship and taken to hospital after it caught fire – all passengers have now been rescued from the ferry.
 
There were also 56 crew members on board the ferry, named the Norman Atlantic, while seven deaths have so far been confirmed. 
 
The relatives of those who have already left the ship say they are suffering from hypothermia having been exposed to cold temperatures whilst awaiting rescue.

Expert Opinion

Sadly this is another tragedy involving hundreds of passengers who were inadvertently caught up in a disaster at sea. <br/> <br/>“We know from our work representing victims of the Costa Concordia disaster three years ago that serious incidents at sea can have a huge impact, both physically and mentally, on the passengers involved. <br/> <br/>“It is crucial that the criminal investigation which will now take place provides answers as to what happened. There are a lot of questions to be answered in relation to this incident including: the exact cause of the fire, why it took so long to extinguish and why the evacuation of passengers and crew took so long. <br/> <br/>“All of this information could potentially highlight any lessons that can be learnt to try to prevent this type of incident from occurring again and to improve emergency procedures on board similar ferries.” Amandeep Dhillon - Partner