Yacht collides with passenger boat heading to Paxos
CORFU. No passengers were injured - there was just damage to the vessels.
An Irish-flagged sailing vessel with two foreign passengers on board collided yesterday afternoon with a passenger boat operating a scheduled route from Corfu to Paxos with 81 passengers and 6 crew members, in the maritime area 2.5 nautical miles east of Corfu.
Corfu Port Authority was immediately informed and a Coast Guard patrol boat and the tugboat Dias were dispatched to the scene. The tugboat safely towed the sailing vessel to Gouvia harbour, while the passenger ship returned by its own power to Corfu port.
The collision resulted in damage to both vessels, and they were prohibited from sailing until they provided valid certificates of seaworthiness from the surveyors monitoring them. Fortunately, there were no injuries and no maritime pollution was observed.
Corfu Central Port Authority, which is conducting the investigation, arrested the skippers of the vessels for violating regulations to avoid collisions.
