City of Poros ship attack
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The ''City of Poros'' was a
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...
that made day-cruises for Cycladic Cruises to Hydra, Aegina and Poros from Flisvos Marina, a port in the
Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
suburbs. The Cycladic Cruises ship was roughly 200 feet (60 m) long, and ran the regular 16 mile (26 km) trip between the two harbours every day, with a carrying capacity of 500 passengers. Four hours before the attack a car laden with explosives exploded on the pier prematurely, killing two Arab terrorists. On the evening of 11 July 1988, the ship was attacked by a Libyan-born Palestinian gunman who killed eight tourists before killing himself in a subsequent explosion. At the time of the attack, there were 471 people on board the ship.


Pier explosion

Earlier on the day of the attack, the pier that the ''City of Poros'' usually berthed at in
Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...
was rocked by the detonation of a large car bomb. Due to the isolated location of the pier and the lack of tourists waiting on it (as the ship was at sea), the only fatalities were the two occupants of the vehicle, both of whom were killed instantly. The bomb's intended target was almost certainly the ship, but the plan of attack will never be known, due to the premature detonation. It is possible that the attack which followed was a "Plan B" after the failure of the car bomb.


Attack

One gunman had boarded the ship as part of its normal intake of passengers at Aegina, and then had waited until the ship had left the port and was three miles into its journey before he attacked, at approximately 8.30pm. Using concealed automatic weapons and hand grenades, he opened fire on his fellow passengers, who scattered in panic, many jumping overboard, which inadvertently caused many casualties amongst people who became caught in the ship's propellers. The perpetrator died in the attack. The rescue operation was carried out by those unhurt on board the ship and by other ships which soon arrived upon the transmission of a distress signal from the ''City of Poros''. Many of those in the water were rescued by these ships and taken to shore, where emergency services were waiting to transport the worst injuries to hospitals. A total of six bodies were found on the deck of the cruise ship, and another three people died in hospitals due to their injuries. This brought the total number of deaths to eleven, including the two people who died in the car bomb explosion earlier in the day. In addition, 98 people were left injured, including 15 seriously. The dead on the ship were mostly tourists, including four from France and one each from Denmark, Sweden and Hungary, as well as two Greeks.


Investigation

The subsequent investigation into the operation uncovered evidence which pointed at both the Abu Nidal Organisation (who claimed responsibility for both the bombing and the ferry attack), and their supposed sponsors,
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
. The weapons used in the attack were of Libyan origin, and at least one of the assailants entered Greece on a Libyan passport. There was also a strong motive for both the ANO and Libya. A case had been running in the Greek courts concerning the known ANO member Muhammed Rashid, who was fighting extradition to the United States for terrorist activities. The Greek justice Minister later arranged for his release and transport to Libya, which was at this time engaged in a terrorist campaign against Western Europe and the USA as part of their revenge for
Operation El Dorado Canyon The 1986 United States bombing of Libya, code-named Operation El Dorado Canyon, consisted of air strikes by the United States against Libya on Tuesday 15 April 1986. The attack was carried out by the U.S. Air Force (USAF), U.S. Navy and U.S. M ...
. A year later, two ANO members were arrested and convicted of involvement in the attack, and further charges were later brought against a Lebanese man arrested in Germany, but the men who planned this operation mostly escaped official justice.


See also

* Terrorism in Europe


References


External links


Greek Newspaper Article after 11 years/To BHMA2012 legal hearing in France
Radio France Internationale in English {{DEFAULTSORT:City Of Poros (Ship) Ferries of Greece Maritime incidents in 1988 Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1988 Terrorist incidents against shipping Conflicts in 1988 Abu Nidal attacks Palestinian terrorist incidents in Europe Terrorist incidents in Greece in the 1980s Mass murder in 1988