Merchant Marine Ministry

Northern Greek ports to be put up for utilization by end of year

Aris Xenofos, the chairman of state sell-off fund TAIPED, stated on Tuesday that the process for the utilization of four regional ports that rely on the Egnatia Odos highway could start before the end of the year. Also on Tuesday the government belatedly launched the process for the utilization of a total of 10 regional ports, including the four mentioned by Xenofos.

70 migrants detained off Greek island of Crete

Authorities on Greece's island of Crete say 70 migrants have been removed from a yacht and detained after entering Greek waters.

The migrants, including 20 children, were being taken Tuesday in three coast guard vessels to the port of Kissamos, on the western part of the island, officials from the Merchant Marine Ministry said.

Greek authorities say tugboat carried 6 tons of cannabis

Greek authorities say they have seized more than six tons of processed cannabis from a tugboat in the Mediterranean Sea and arrested the vessel's six Syrian crew members.

A Merchant Marine Ministry statement said the Andreas was intercepted about 50 miles south of the island of Crete and boarded by special harbor police forces on Tuesday.

Ship carrying vehicles on fire off Greek island of Rhodes

Greek authorities say a cargo ship carrying vehicles has caught fire off the island of Rhodes but none of the 32 people on board are in immediate danger.

The Merchant Marine Ministry says the blaze broke out Thursday on the Cypriot-flagged Med Star as it was sailing two nautical miles off Rhodes in the Aegean Sea.

Four migrants dead in crippled boat, 15 saved

Four people believed to be migrants have been found dead on a crippled boat in the northern Aegean Sea and another 15 survivors have been rescued, Greek authorities said Wednesday.

The boat was located following a 17-hour search and rescue operation by sea and air, after somebody believed to be a passenger on the inflatable dinghy made a distress call to Greek officials late Tuesday.

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