ROME
A tortuous international rescue effort was under way Sunday night in gusting winds after a car ferry with some 480 people on board caught fire while sailing from Greece to Italy and its captain ordered its evacuation, officials said on Sunday.
Turkish diplomatic sources said late Sunday that the fire was under control. The Turkish government expressed its readiness to help as the rescue efforts continue with 8 ships around the region.
The fire reportedly broke out in the garage of the Norman Atlantic ferry, leaving it stricken around 44 miles north of Corfu.
The heat from the fierce blaze in the garage hold of the ship was intense. “Our shoes started melting while we were in the reception area,” one passenger told the Greek Mega television channel.
Passengers quickly moved to the upper decks and some 120 were evacuated in lifeboats and picked up by a freighter passing nearby while nine women and children were winched off by helicopter later.
Other lifeboats were rendered useless by an electrical fault and Greek news reports suggested that some of them had been destroyed by the blaze. The remaining 350 people were left stranded as gale force winds gusting at 50 mph and high waves from a force 7-8 sea gale hampered the rescue operation.
There were conflicting reports throughout the day fromItalian and Greek officials over the exact number of people aboard and how many had been rescued.
Athens-Macedonian News Agency said on Sunday -- quoting the company that leased the Italian ferry – that only 150 people were left on the Norman Atlantic, with the rest having been evacuated and transferred to ships in the area.
Turkish Transport Minister Lutfi Elvan said that three Turkish nationals were among those saved. Turkish sources said a crisis center had been established at Turkey’s embassy in Athens.
Official Italian sources said the 422 passengers left aboard included 234 Greeks, 54 Turks, 22 Italians, 22 Albanians, 18 Germans, 10 Swiss, 9 French, 7 Bulgarians, 3 Macedonians, 3 Dutch, 3 Belgians, 2 Britons, 2 Iraqis, one Canadian, one Rumanian, one Swede, one Maltese and one Croat. The crew consisted of 56 people of various nationalities.
The Italian Navy said 131 people had been rescued by mid-afternoon, leaving some 350 others on board. Among those rescued were two infants aged 2 and 3 who were winched to safety by helicopter from the burning vessel together with their pregnant mother and taken to the hospital of Galatina on the mainland where they were said to be in good. Six other people were rescued by helicopter while the others taken off the ferry were on rescue ships in the area.
Passengers who telephoned Greek television stations gave dramatic accounts of the situation.
"They tried to lower some boats, but not all of us could get in. There is no coordination," one 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."
One rescuer who returned from the scene to Otranto was quoted saying that the Norman Atlantic was keeling over at an angle but Italian officials directing the rescue efforts denied that. Two Italian fire-fighting tugs arrived on the scene and began efforts to extinguish the blaze while the Italian Navy amphibious helicopter carrier St. Giorgio headed for the area to join the rescue operation.
Greek television reported the fire has been brought under control but the captain of the ship was quoted by coast guard sources as saying the Norman Atlantic had become "ungovernable," meaning its steering mechanism no longer was working, and that it was drifting toward the Albanian coast.
The ferry that set out from the northern Greek port of Igoumenitsa was due to arrive at the Adriatic port of Ancona on Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m. local time. Rescue operations are being coordinated by the coast guard at Bari and also involve the Italian Navy, a Greek army helicopter and coast guard helicopters from Sicily.
The Italian-flagged ferry ship was leased for the journey by the Agenzia Archibugi company from Ancona in the Marche region.
Most of the passengers were lorry drivers and there were some 130 trucks aboard but some were families with children, according to radio reports reaching Bari.
The fire started just before dawn when the ferry was around 15 nautical miles from the Albanian port of Valona.
"The weather conditions are not good, we are working with great difficulty, we hope that everything will be alright," said Nikos Dendias, Greek Defense Minister.
"We are following the affair of the ferry between Greece and Italy, in contact with (Greek) premier Samaras and there is maximum involvement of our Navy," said Matteo Renzi, Italian Prime Minister.
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.
www.aa.com.tr/en
