'Europalink' Captain and Chief Officer Arrested Following Grounding

File photo shows M/F Europalink, formerly part of the Finnlines fleet. Photo (c) MarineTraffic

The Captain and Chief Officer of the Italian-flagged Europalink ferry have been arrested in Greece after the ship ran aground early Sunday morning off Greece.

According to a statement Monday from the Hellenic Coast Guard, both the Captain and Chief Officer have been arrested and were expected to appear before a local prosecutor in Corfu on Monday. The statement did not provide details about the charges, but according to local media reports they are charged with inadvertently causing a shipwreck.

As gCaptain reported this weekend, the ro-pax ferry Europalink scrapped the rocky seabed as it passed the small Greek island of Peristeres just north of the strait of Corfu while sailing from Greece to Italy with 693 passengers, 70 crew and 366 vehicles. The ship sustained at least two large holes to the starboard side, which caused the vessel to take on water and start to list. Luckily, the ingress of water was brought under control and was limited to certain compartments of the ship.

After the grounding, the ferry sailed under its own power to the nearby port of Corfu where all passengers disembarked, followed by a lengthy operation to offload all the vehicles. No injuries to the passengers or crew were reported.

The Europalink is operated by Minoan Lines, part of Naples headquartered Grimaldi Group.

As of Monday, the passengers were awaiting another ferry to take them to Italy.

The incident is being investigated by a department of the Ministry of Shipping and the Aegean.