The fate of the Panagiotis

On the white sand of the Navagio beach on the Southern Ionian island of Zakynthos, just a few feet away from the sapphire-blue waters the wrecked ship lies.

In the early 1980′s the small coastal freighter Panagiotis was on its route from Turkey laden with contraband cigarettes. Greek authorities were aware of the Panagiotis team’s smuggling operations. That’s why as soon as Panagiotis have reached Greek territorial waters in vicinity of the island Zakynthos the Greek Navy vessel began to pursue the smugglers.

Just like in any good story about pirates and smugglers, it was a dark stormy night. On top of everything else, Panagiotis has lost its engine in the storm, so the chase was pretty short. The freighter ran aground in the small isolated cove on the North-West shore of the island. The team was arrested, but nobody cared about the ship.

The fate of the Panagiotis was posted by Vitali K. on 5th April 2011 as part of the Environment section. Check the front page for the latest posts and follow me on Twitter.