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A major rescue operation is underway for a Greek ferry carrying more than 460 people which caught fire around 40 nautical miles north-west of Corfu.The Norman Atlantic was travelling from the Greek port of Patras to the Italian city of Ancona.Nearby ships have been called in to rescue the passengers and crew but strong winds are hampering the operation, Greek authorities say.There are no immediate reports of casualties.Italian media say the fire broke out on the ferry's car deck early on Sunday morning.Around 35 passengers were transferred to a nearby Greek ferry by lifeboat, Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said."This is a complicated rescue mission ... The visibility is poor and the weather conditions are difficult, but we are confident because there are a good number of ships in the area" he said.
High winds and choppy waters mean rescue vessels and aircraft have been unable to get close enough to save more than a few dozen passengers, while those still on board have made desperate pleas for help.“We are burning and sinking, no one can save us,” Nikos Papatheodosiou told Greek TV by telephone. “Please help us! Don't leave us,” he added before hanging up.The Norman Atlantic car ferry was just over 40 miles northwest of Corfu when it sent out a distress signal to the Greek coast guard.It was unclear whether there had been casualties or if any passengers were in the water, though officials said wintry water temperatures would make survival in the sea difficult unless rescue came quickly.Another caller to Greek TV described the rescue effort. "They tried to lower some boats, but not all of us could get in. There is no co-ordination," he said. "It's dark, the bottom of the vessel is on fire. We are on the bridge, we can see a boat approaching... we opened some boxes and got some life vests, we are trying to save ourselves."The Greek shipping minister, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, said the combination of very bad weather, with winds of up to 55 miles (88 kilometres) per hour and the fire, made the operation extremely complicated.Varvitsiotis said there were 478 passengers and crew aboard the ship, more than the 466 originally reported. Of those, 268 were Greek. There were no immediate details of the nationality of other passengers. While rescue vessels and aircraft had been dispatched to the scene, early rescue work was being coordinated from nearby passenger and cargo ships. A fire-fighting vessel was trying to approach the ferry, he said.Officials said both Italian and Albanian authorities were taking part in the operation, which was being conducted in extremely difficult conditions with strong winds, heavy seas and very cold temperatures.Rescue helicopters and a C-130 search-and-rescue support aircraft had also been sent.
"The fire is still burning," Greek passenger Sofoklis Styliaras told private Mega television. "On the lower deck, where the lifeboats are, our shoes were starting to melt from the heat. ... There's nowhere else for us to go. It's impossible to walk on the lower deck because of the heat."Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said a life boat carrying about 150 passengers had been lowered into the water, but that only 35 had been moved to a nearby cargo ship so far because of the turbulent weather."This is a very difficult, a very complex rescue operation," he said. "The visibility is poor and the weather conditions are difficult."At least seven merchant ships were next to the Norman Atlantic as part of the rescue effort, and being used to form a barrier against the high winds of up to 75 kilometers per hour (46 miles per hour).
Most of the passengers were lorry drivers but some were families with children, according to radio reports reaching Bari. It was unclear whether there had been any casualties or whether any passengers were in the water, where cold winter temperatures would make survival difficult unless rescue came quickly.
A coastguard official said nearby passenger and container ships were attempting to form a ring around the burning vessel to try to form a windbreak to allow small rescue boats to approach but rough seas made the manoeuvre difficult.Varvitsiotis said there were 478 passengers and crew aboard the ship, more than the 466 originally reported. Of those, he said 268 were Greek, while a foreign ministry official said there were also passengers from several other countries including Germany, Italy, Austria, Turkey, France and the Netherlands. Many appeared to be truck drivers.One Greek passenger told a television reporter that language differences hindered communication between passengers and crew.
Dramatic cries from the passengers of the burning ship: “Pray for us for there is no escape” – “We shall freeze to death if flames don’t consume us"Originally the fire broke out in the garage but quickly spread throughout the ship around 4 in the morning and immediately the evacuation operation started, amid strong winds up to 8 Beaufort.At that point about 222 cars were in the garage, most of them trucks.Less than half of the passengers managed to get in the lifeboats, others in panic fell into the sea and the rest are waiting for help on the bridge of the ship.One of the passengers a truck driver Mr. Alexandros Veneris spoke to protothema.gr and said that: “We’ve been here for so many hours and noone has managed to reach us. Don’t listen to what they say, there is no help as yet. Panic prevails and everyone has started to fear and losing their temper. We urge the media to do something to help us. We don’t have much battery left on our mobile phones and we can’t keep taliking to our relatives for much longer”.According to another truck owner Mr. Yiannis Milonas who is also in the flaming ship, there are about 20 to 25 tanks with oil.
Air crews began lifting passengers off a burning ferry adrift in the Adriatic Sea on Sunday, racing to rescue as many of the hundreds trapped on board as possible before nightfall as storms hampered seaborne operations.Helicopters were taking passengers off the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic in pairs and transferring them to a nearby vessel, officials said.There were no confirmed reports of casualties.Greek authorities said 131 people were clear of the danger zone while an official said 150 had managed to get off the ship aboard a rescue boat.Each air transfer was taking around 15 minutes per helicopter, according to a Greek defence ministry official. Another official said two Italian and two Greek helicopters were involved in the rescue.Coastguard spokesman Nikos Lagkadianos said the heavy rain that was hampering the rescue had helped contain the fire although the ship was still burning. Two tugboats were present, one of which had managed to approach the ship to try to extinguish the blaze.Command of the operation was transferred to Italy after the ship drifted out of Greek waters but officials were coordinating closely and an Albanian coastguard vessel was also taking part.
One person has died and another injured, Greek and Italian officials say. 161 people have been rescued.The British ambassador to Greece said officials were investigating reports that two Britons were on board.
Italian and Greek helicopter crews worked into the night to airlift passengers off a burning ferry adrift in the Adriatic Sea, battling darkness and bad weather that hampered rescue efforts by other ships throughout Sunday.Helicopters were plucking passengers off the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic and transferring them to a nearby vessel, after a dramatic day that began when a fire broke out on its lower deck in the early hours.Authorities said one Greek man had died and there were reports of four injured among 478 passengers and crew and as night fell. The Italian navy said 190 people were clear of the danger zone, with 287 still on board.The Italian coastguard said the fire on board had been "tamed" and the ship was being stabilized by cables attached to a tug in order to assist rescue operations which remained extremely difficult in rough seas and strong winds.The ship will be towed to a nearby port after cables are securely attached but an official from the Italian navy said it had yet to be decided whether this would be in Italy or Albania, following conflicting statements from officials in Greece, Albania and Italy.
Number of ferry passengers rescued up to 345, claims of more deaths not confirmedGreece’s Public Order Minister Vassilis Kikilias could not confirm on Monday claims made by a passenger rescued from the stranded Norman Atlantic ferry that four people had died on the vessel.As of around 11.30 a.m. in Greece, 345 of almost 500 passengers and crew on board the Italian-flagged ferry that was hired by Greece’s ANEK lines hade been rescued. Another 132 people were on board the ship.Italian and Greek helicopter crews were continuing to airlift passengers from the distressed ship.
French Le Figaro newspaper states that an investigation has begun concerning the fire that broke out on Norman Atlantic. Bari prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe announced the start of the criminal investigation to find out whether negligence had contributed to the disaster where at least one passenger is known to have died and reports that another four had died at the ship’s garage.
Norman Atlantic ferry fire: Criminal probe launched as five confirmed dead while boat found to have safety 'deficiencies' Five people have died, coastguard spokesman Nikos Lagadianos confirmed, and all the passengers and crew on the ship have since been evacuated.The Italian owner of the boat, Visemar Di Navigazione, has insisted that the vessel was in full working order and had passed a technical inspection on 19 December, as reported by AFP.However, an online report by ship safety organisation Paris MoU into the same investigation on 19 December states that some fire doors had malfunctioned and emergency system parts were “missing”. It is not known if they were repaired before the ferry left the port.The investigation will also explore how the blaze on the car deck had started, at 6am local time, and how it had spread so quickly that the plastic on passengers shoes started to melt.Six British people were on board the Italian-owned Norman Atlantic vessel that was sailing to Greece from Italy.
Showjumper Nick Channing-Williams, 37... borrowed a phone while he was in an ambulance and briefly spoke to his mother, Dottie, to tell her he was safe.His family were contacted by Italian air force captain Paolo Papi to tell them he was safe. Papi even sent them a photograph of himself next to the grinning but soot and oil-blackened Briton.
Death toll rises to eight after fire on ferryThe captain of the blaze-hit ferry Norman Atlantic has left his ship as the death toll rises to eight, with 427 people rescued.The total of 435 leaves 43 people unaccounted for when compared to the names on the passenger lists, although officials say they cannot be sure the list is accurate.More than 36 hours after he sent out a distress signal, Captain Argilio Giacomazzi handed over control of the stricken vessel to Italian navy officers at 2.50pm, the navy said.
Death toll rises to ten after fire on ferryThe captain of the blaze-hit ferry Norman Atlantic has left his ship as the death toll rises to ten, with 427 people rescued.The total of 437 leaves 41 people unaccounted for when compared to the names on the passenger lists, although officials say they cannot be sure the list is accurate.More than 36 hours after he sent out a distress signal, Captain Argilio Giacomazzi handed over control of the stricken vessel to Italian navy officers at 2.50pm, the navy said.
Two crew members on an Albanian tugboat have died during the operation to secure the fire-hit Greek ferry from which hundreds of people were rescued and 10 people died, Albanian authorities said.The sailors were apparently hit by a rope they had been trying to attach to the Norman Atlantic, which has been drifting rudderless near the Albanian port of Vlore, according to police and the defence ministry.Rescuers have been searching the waters around the crippled Greek ferry and below deck for more possible victims amid confusion over how many people were aboard.The death toll had already climbed to at least 10, and Italian and Greek helicopter rescue crews evacuated the last of the known survivors aboard the fire-blackened vessel, bringing the number rescued to 427.But there were serious discrepancies in the ship's manifest, and officials warned there could still be people missing.The blaze broke out on the car deck of the Norman Atlantic while the ferry was travelling from the Greek port of Patras to Ancona in Italy. The cause of the fire is under investigation and salvage crews have gone aboard to assess the damage.The fire caused thick, acrid smoke to fill cabins, waking passengers on the overnight ferry from Greece to Italy.In the chaos that followed, passengers said they received virtually no instructions from the crew.The principle of women and children first went out of the window, and passengers started pushing and shoving and came to blows over seats in the lifeboats and helicopter baskets."Everyone there was trampling on each other to get on to the helicopter," Greek truck driver Christos Perlis said.Another Greek passenger, Irene Varsioti, said: "The jungle law prevailed. There was no queue or order. No respect was shown for children."
Firefighters boarded the charred Norman Atlantic ferry in the Italian port of Brindisi on Friday to put out residual fires and allow a search for possible dead.The probe into the disaster widened Friday. In addition to the ship's captain and the head of the company that built the ferry — both Italians — the prosecutor's office in Bari put two other crew members and two representatives of the Greek ferry line Anek, which rented the Norman Atlantic, under investigation, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. Prosecutors fear unregistered migrants were smuggled aboard in trucks and might have died in the flames and smoke.Italian newspapers, reportedly quoting from transcripts of the ferry captain's questioning Wednesday by prosecutors, said Capt. Argilio Giacomazzi told prosecutors that crews didn't properly follow his orders in lowering the lifeboats and that the car deck had too many vehicles.Italian TV reports said passengers noted that five crewmen were in the only lifeboat launched, in apparent violation of rules that specify only three crew members should go aboard with the evacuated passengers.
BRINDISI, Italy (AP) - For a second day, fierce heat from a slow-burning blaze kept firefighters and other investigators on Saturday from searching the hold and vehicle decks of a Greek ferry for more bodies.
Four Greek brothers waited at dockside for news of a missing cousin, a truck driver.Tsakoumis Ioannis, one of the brothers, said an uncle was located in a hospital, where he is being treated for burns on his head and arms. Their cousin, Sofos Ioannis, is missing.
Fire on board Norman Atlantic finally put outAuthorities at the Italian port of Brindisi on Monday fully extinguished the fire that had been burning on board the Norman Atlantic ferry for more than two weeks.
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Topic: Ferry fire (Read 21572 times)
