Santorini: woman, 29, injured in ferry garage

A 29-year-old Greek passenger was injured on the afternoon of Sunday 16 August 2026 in the garage of a passenger and vehicle ferry as the vessel was coming into the port of Athinios on Thira. According to the briefing from the Hellenic Coast Guard, reported by Cyclades24, the chain of events began with a van parked in the loading area with no occupants. The vehicle moved and collided with a private passenger car, which in turn was pushed along and struck a motorcycle. The 29-year-old was on the motorcycle and was injured in her right leg. The ship’s crew provided first aid immediately, and the island’s port authorities were alerted before mooring was completed.

After the ship berthed, the injured woman was picked up by an ambulance of the national emergency service and taken to the General Hospital of Thira for examinations. According to the details made public, she was discharged the same day and did not need to be admitted. The Thira Port Authority is conducting a preliminary investigation into the exact reasons the van moved. The official briefing does not say whether the ship was manoeuvring at the moment of the incident, nor whether passengers had been instructed to go down to the garage before mooring was complete. No other injury to a passenger or crew member was reported, nor any damage to the port facility.

The safety rules for passenger and vehicle ferries provide that vehicles are secured with lashing systems and that passengers stay out of the loading area while the ship is under way or manoeuvring. In the ports of the Cyclades, where calls are short and the flow of vehicles is dense at the peak of the season, compliance with these procedures is tested daily. Athinios is one of the most demanding ports in the country: the quay sits at the foot of a sheer cliff, with limited room to manoeuvre and heavy simultaneous movement of vehicles, buses and passengers on foot. TodayGrid has reported similar safety incidents in Cycladic coastal shipping on other islands too, as in «Naxos: mooring line of the Blue Star 1 snapped».

The incident falls in a period of peak passenger traffic to and from Santorini, as the wave of return journeys began after the mid-August holiday. The island recorded 362,635 arrivals in July 2026, a figure that captures the pressure on port infrastructure. The findings of the preliminary investigation will be assessed by the Thira Port Authority, which will decide whether any liability arises over the securing of the vehicles in the garage. More from the island on the Santorini page. Incidents of this kind are entered in the ship’s log of events and are examined in periodic safety inspections. Santorini has repeatedly discussed the need to upgrade Athinios, without any overall intervention having been carried out. TodayGrid will return to the story if further information is released by the Port Authority.