Greek rescue workers looking for survivors in the carcass of the 33,588-gt Euroferry Olympia (built 1995), which went up in flames last week, are only finding dead bodies.
Three more dead men have been discovered on the Grimaldi-owned vessel’s car decks over the past 24 hours, Greek coastguards told TradeWinds.
This brings the total confirmed death toll from the blaze to four male passengers. Another seven remain missing.
Nearly 300 passengers and crew were evacuated successfully from the ship when it went up in flames on 18 February off the Greek island of Corfu.
A search and rescue operation for possible survivors briefly stopped on Tuesday to tow the ship to safer waters further south, at the Astakos cargo port in western Greece.
Rescue workers still hesitate to enter some parts of the ship for fear of stoking the fire that is still smouldering in its interior almost a week after the accident.
With the fire having erupted on the car deck, there is a strong suspicion that it began in one of the dozens of vehicles that the vessel was carrying en route to Italy.
Most, if not all, victims are believed to be truck drivers or stowaways trapped in their vehicles on the car deck.
Two such drivers and one stowaway survived and were rescued after spending several hours in agony inside the burning ship.
Grimaldi has pledged full cooperation with the investigation.
The insurance settlement for the fatal ferry fire off Greece is unlikely to be decided soon — judging by the ongoing row between Italian operator Grimaldi Lines and truckers over who is at fault.
