Three Greek sailors and another 6 from the Philippines are lost in the sea around Venezuela after a fire started on the ship on which they were traveling. Aegean Wind is a vessel made in Piraeus in 1983 and owned by the Greek naval magnate George Kumandaros. On board of the ship there were the 24 members of the crew, 9 of which were Greek. The ship which was sailing under the Greek flag was heading from Venezuela to Huston, Texas and was loaded with 37 thousand tons of iron, when in unknown circumstances on board of the ship started a fire.
At the moment of the disaster Aegean Wind was 90 sea miles north of the Venezuela cost. Currently there are two scenarios for the missing sailors. The pessimistic one is that they staid trapped in their cabins at the start of the fire and their faith is still not clear. The optimistic one is that in their search for salvation they jumped in the water. At present around Venezuela the weather is nice and there are big chances for the salvation of the missing.
In the search operation are taking part one helicopter and one hydroplane granted by the government of Caracas, and in the suppression of the fire on board took part the crew of a Dutch ship. Few Venezuelan ships that were close by also headed for the place of the disaster. The flames started for unknown reasons from the berths and soon took over the whole ship.
From the company Atlantic Bulk Carriers Management Ltd., owner of the ship Aegean Wind are saying that the rest of the 15 members of the crew are safe and are taking part in the fire extinguishing. Among them there are 4 injured. There is no risk of pollution of the sea waters due to the fire, and there is no risk for other ships.