Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-07-29

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] 'Friendshipgas' explosion arrests

[02] Households reassured over debts

[01] 'Friendshipgas' explosion arrests

The testimony given by George and Ilias Sourlis, the two brothers given the contract for the extensive repairs on the ship, lasted four hours. The magistrate is due to question the foreman, the ship's safety technician and the Filipino captain of the vessel on Wednesday.

The Sourlis brothers told the magistrate that, while they had taken on the contract, they had then passed this on to sub-contractor and shipyard plater H. Konstantaras, after which they were no longer responsible for safety conditions in the storage tanks of the Maltese-flagged vessel.

Concurrently with the magistrate's investigation, the public prosecutor in charge of supervising an investigation by experts on board the ship itself is carefully checking whether the certificate issued for the "Friendshipgas" declaring it safe for work involving use of flame in tank 3 was genuine.

Authorities have pressed charges of repeated counts of manslaughter through negligence and repeated counts of causing bodily harm on a number of people accused in connection with the fatal accident.

Workers at the Perama Shipyard Repair Zone have planned a 24-hour strike on Thursday and a march to the employment ministry to protest against slipshod safety measures at the shipyard.

Meanwhile, Merchant Marine and Island Policy Minister George Voulgarakis on Tuesday announced that jobs in the coast guard or at the ministry would be offered to one member of each of the victims' families, based on their qualifications, while they would also receive financial assistance to cover their immediate needs.

He also ordered the posting of additional staff at the Perama coast guard headquarters.

[02] Households reassured over debts

In an interview with ANA-MPA, Gortsos, however, stressed that this general view does mean that there was not a number of Greek households which have passed the limit of their affordable debt.

Gortsos said the Greek banking system was not ?contaminated? by the causes of a current international credit crisis (such as subprime loans) and stressed that the situation would gradually begin to return to normality, although no one could forecast the timing of this turnaround.

He noted that the creation of a Single Payments Area offered greater security in the use of credit cards and facilitated capital transfer throughout Europe.

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