Burning ship survivals express their feelings to Millet
Turkish citizens who survived the ship that started to burn near the island of Corfu were hosted at the Consulate General of Komotini for passport procedures.
The citizens of Turkey, who survived the ship that started to burn near the island of Corfu while traveling to Greece and Italy, were hosted at the Consulate General of Komotini for passport procedures.
The truck drivers, who told them with emotional words that the Turkish Athens Piraeus Consul General visited them on the island of Corfu and that he provided them with everything necessary, said that Turkey is a great state and that it does not leave its citizens alone anywhere in the world.
Saying that the Italian coast guard was the first to come to their aid in the fire disaster, the truck drivers told their friends about the problems with the lifeboats, the explosions on the ship and a truck driver whose fate is still unknown. They said that because most of the trucks on the ship were carrying industrial goods, the flames suddenly engulfed the ship. People from different parts of Turkey who have been on this journey for years said that this is the first time they have encountered such an event.
After the rescue of a 21-year-old Belarusian citizen on the burning ship this morning, 11 people are still missing. However, hopes that there may still be living creatures among the missing have increased. It is known that 3 of the 11 missing people are Greek citizens and 1 person is Turkish citizen.
Turkish citizens who survived the burning ship were brought to the Consulate General of Turkey in Komotini for passport procedures. Turkish Consulate General in Komotini Murat Ömeroğlu and consular officials took a close interest in them.
Hayrullah Çetin, a 45-year-old truck driver who survived the ship fire, told TRT reporter and Millet Newspaper columnist Necat Ahmet about his experiences:
Hayrullah Çetin summarized his experiences as follows:
“I am one of the last to board the ship, the doors of the ship were already closed after me. We went to our cabins and went to bed, but at 15.50 they announced us to vacate our cabins. Later, the ship's officers came to the place where we were gathered and directed us to the lifeboats. The lifeboat we boarded was suspended, at that time the Italian coast guard teams came and helped us. The Italian naval police took us to the island of Corfu. Mr. Mustafa, our Athens Piraeus Consul General on the island of Corfu, was very interested in us. They made a great effort. Many thanks to them. In fact, one of our friends did not have socks on his feet, he took out his spare socks from his bag and gave them, we were so touched. After that, they placed us in hotels, took us to restaurants, and bought clothes and shoes for friends who had no clothes on. Finally, they allocated a bus and today we are here at the Consulate General of Komotini. Thanks to our Consul General in Komotini, they welcomed us very well. They arranged the passports of our friends whose passports were burned, and I hope we will make our way to the homeland from here. I would also like to thank our Consul General in Komotini, they also worked very hard for us. Even though we knew before that our state has always existed, this time we understood it more, that is, we saw through experience that every citizen of our state is always with them.”
After the passport procedures at the Turkish Consulate General in Komotini, the group of 23 people departed for Turkey by bus.
