Tugboat

A 16-day strike announced by the PSEEP union, which represents workers at Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE), is expected to make it difficult for fuel to reach Greece's islands and other parts of the country.

(UPD)

Expert divers and tug boats have managed to restore the leaning ship and have partially balanced the keel, allowing mechanic to enter the ruptured part of the hull and pump the water it had taken in.

A tugboat began towing the 3000-tonnes Turkish Pazar ship, which has been stranded in the Black Sea off the Bulgarian coast since Saturday, towards the port of Varna minutes before midday on Sunday.

Greek coast guard officers intercepted a group of 170 undocumented migrants on a vessel about 60 nautical miles off Cape Tenaro, in the western Peloponnese, last Friday.

The migrants were subsequently put on an Italian-flagged tug boat which happened to be in the area and was expected to reach the port of Kalamata over the weekend.

More than two hundred passengers remained stranded aboard the ferry boat Vincezo Kornaros just off the harbour in the small Dodecanese island of Kassos for a third day.

The vessel became stuck in shallow waters amid rough seas, before striking a pier.

Tugboats so far have not been able to free the vessel.

The crew of a cargo ship that became trapped off Crete in gale-force winds on Tuesday were airlifted to safety by a Hellenic Navy helicopter.

The Turkish captain and five crew members were taken to Souda Bay and three tugboats were dispatched to help secure the Saint Vincent-flagged ship, which was carrying a 1,200-ton load.

Tugboats were finally able on Friday to tow the ill-fated Norman Atlantic to the port of Brindisi in Italy, allowing rescue teams to search the Greek-hired passenger ferry that caught fire on Sunday as it was traveling from Greece to Italy.

Two Albanian seamen were killed when a cable connecting their tugboat to the fire-stricken ferry Norman Atlantic broke on Tuesday morning after towing the gutted ferry throughout the night.

Italy's once-luxurious Costa Concordia cruise ship embarked on its last voyage on Wednesday, as tug boats began towing it from island wreck site to scrapyard grave in one of the biggest salvage operations in maritime history.