Passenger On Burning Ferry Outside Of Greece Contacts Mother From Cellphone


A passenger on a ferry that is burning in the middle of the Adriatic Sea outside of Greece was able to contact his mother via cellphone. The passenger: Nick Channing-Williams from the United Kingdom.

According to BBC News, Dotty Channing-Williams was contacted by her son, Nick, following the incident on the ferry. The Italian ferry, as the Inquisitr previously reported, was stranded in the Adriatic Sea, after a fire broke out at the lower garage level. Almost 500 passengers were aboard the Norman Atlantic ferry, when it caught fire and was set adrift. High winds and storms have hampered rescue efforts, and rescue teams note that each individual helicopter rescue takes 15 minutes. Therefore, the rescue efforts have no been fast.

According to Dotty Channing-Williams, her son last spoke to her at 11 GMT. However, she has been unable to contact him or speak any further with her son due to cellphones hampering the rescue efforts.

“They have cut communications because it was hampering the rescue operation.”

Dotty says that she immediately knew her son was on the burning ferry after turning on the news. However, she said that her son had told others he had been in contact with in Greece not to contact her because he didn’t want her to worry. Dotty says Nick is 37-years-old, and was traveling with his 33-year-old fiancé Regina Theofilli. Nick is a competitive show jumper who trains younger riders to compete.

Though Nick did not want others to contact his mother, he eventually made the call himself to let her know he was currently okay. She told her son that it was difficult for her because she had no idea what was going on. Her son replied it was “far more difficult here.”

“I told him it’s just so difficult because there’s no information. And he said, ‘It’s far more difficult here, because we’ve been on the top deck in the freezing cold and rain and thunder and lightning.'”

Dotty has had no further communication with her son since the 11 GMT conversation. However, CNN reports that, as of the time of this writing, officials have confirmed 165 people have been rescued, and that there was one fatality. There are still hundreds more remaining on the burning ferry that need to be rescued. The man who was confirmed dead is said to have been trying to escape the ferry by jumping overboard. Two others were injured in after jumping.

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