President, PM pay tribute to Georgian victim of Norman Atlantic ferry disaster

Georgian leaders have paid tribute to the memory of late Archimandrite Ilia Kartozia, who died while trying to save others in a ferry tragedy in the Adriatic Sea last month.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili went to the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in the historical town of Mtskheta, where the priest’s body was currently lying in state.

"I would like to offer my condolences to Father Ilia Kartozia’s family, his friends, his parish, our church and the entire population,” PM Garibashvili said. 

"Father Ilia’s heroism is exemplary. It needs to be appreciated and we are to pay tribute to his memory.”

The body of the 27-year-old priest, who drowned while helping other passengers on board the burning Italian ferry Norman Atlantic on December 29, 2014, will be laid to rest this afternoon in the yard of Davit the IV Builder Monastery in Mtskheta, the church where the late Archimandrite served.

Witnesses said the Georgian religious figurehead died during the Norman Atlantic ferry disaster after he let a woman and her child take his place on a rescue boat.

Meanwhile, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili awarded the late Archimandrite a posthumous award for his "exemplary civil devotion, heroism and extraordinary personal bravery" yesterday.

Priest Kartozia left for Italy to make a pilgrimage to the Church of Saint Nicolas in the Italian city of Bari with eight other Georgians, reported Georgian Public Broadcaster.

In total nine Georgian citizens were on board the burning ship, including one pregnant woman and one child.

The Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic caught fire and began to list in the early hours of December 29, 2014.

The ferry company operating the journey from the Greek city of Patras to Ancona in Italy said 478 people were on board the ship when it departed Greece.

It is not clear what caused the tragedy, which killed at least 11 people.