CYPRUS is again near the top of the list of ship

CYPRUS is again near the top of the list of ship casualties as compiled by the Institute of London Underwriters (ILU).

According to latest figures published for the third quarter of 1997, total ship losses are declining but he number of lives lost is up.

The ILU has described the loss of life on vessels below 500 gross tonnage, which are not included in the statistics, as appalling.

Thirteen ships were lost in the third quarter, bringing the nine-months total to 63 vessels. This was down on the 75 vessels lost in the first three quarters of 1996, Lloyds List said.

However, the number of lives lost showed a sharp increase, with 74 people reported missing or killed.

Of the 63 ships lost in the first nine months of the year, the Panama flag suffered eight losses and Cyprus and St Vincent & Grenadines four each.

October’s Romantica tragedy was classified as a “notable casualty”. The cruise vessel was gutted after a fire broke out in its engine room on a return trip from Egypt on October 4.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.