Angry port workers have wrecked the offices of the Piraeus Port Authority in protest at the deaths of two men on the oil storage tanker AILSA CRAIG as she was being repaired at the Perama ship-repair zone in the port yesterday.

Hundreds threw chairs through the windows of the offices after they called for a 24 hour strike and then marched through Athens to highlight what they say caused the deaths, namely poor safety conditions.

The two men died after a fire on the ship erupted as she was being repaired by welders. There is speculation that the tanks had not been properly cleaned and there occurred a build up of inflammable gasses that were then ignited by a welding torch, but no official confirmation of this has been made.

Meanwhile Greek authorities have confirmed that the captain of the ship as well as a yard manager and safety technician have been charged with manslaughter.

The ship appears to be owned by a company called Troon Storage Tankers of Panama, and is operated by World Carrier Corporation of Greece. She was built in 1974 but rebuilt again in 1990 and is used an offshore storage vessel. The vessel used to act as a storage platform in the North Sea.