As rescued passengers receive medical care in Brindisi, the stricken car ferry that caught fire off the Greek coast is being towed to Italy as hundreds still await airlift. Gavino Garay reports. Video provided by Reuters Newslook
A photo grab taken from a video made available by the Marina Militare Italiana on Dec. 28 shows the burning ferry Norman Atlantic adrift off Albania.(Photo: Marina Militare Italiana via AFP/Getty Images)
ATHENS — The death toll from a fire aboard a Greek ferry rose to 10 Monday as helicopter crews rescued the last of more than 400 trapped aboard the vessel, the Italian coast guard reported.
Italy's transport minister, Maurizio Lupi, said 427 people had been rescued, including 56 crewmembers. They were plucked from the vessel in an arduous rescue operation hampered by stormy seas and high winds.
The original ferry manifest listed 422 passengers and 56 crewmembers, but Italian navy Adm. Giovanni Pettorino said 80 of those rescued did not appear on the list at all.
Those numbers seem to back up what officials as high as Italian Premier Matteo Renzi have hinted — the survivors might include a number of migrants traveling illegally, trying to reach Italy.
Lupi said it was too early to speculate on whether people are still missing, but two boats are continuing to search the Adriatic for people. He said authorities were checking the manifest against the names of those rescued.
The ship's captain, Argilio Giacomazzi, and four Italian saliors were the last people on board as the rescue team attempted to hook the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic to a tug boat, the Italian coast guard said. Prosecutors in the southern Italian port of Bari were opening an investigation into how the fire started.
The disaster erupted before dawn Sunday when a fire broke out on a car deck on the ferry as it sailed from the Greek port of Patras toward the Italian port of Ancona. All day and night, passengers huddled on the vessel's upper decks, pelted by rain and hail and struggling to breathe through the thick smoke.
Early Monday, a group of 49 exhausted people arrived in Bari after they were rescued. Passengers described the harrowing chaos that ensued for hours until they were rescued.
"It was hellish," Greek soprano Dimitra Theodosiou told ANT1 TV. "I saw terrifying things. Children, women and the elderly were given priority, but some passengers battled ahead, pushing, shoving and punching to be saved first. Even I was hit, but I lashed out in order to reach the helicopter. It was very ugly."
Ourania Firaiou told Greek Mega TV that passengers spent more than 20 hours without water or supplies.
"All we could do was stay close to each other for warmth and give each other support," Firaiou said. "We asked for water for a passenger who was unwell but got no response from the crew."
Yiorgos Dimopoulos, a truck driver speaking to Mega TV, described how quickly the fire spread and confirmed it was highly likely that other drivers had planned to sleep in their trucks that night on the ferry.
Alexandro Tziourtziotis, one of the chefs from the Norman Atlantic ferry, called his wife Sunday afternoon after the fire spread, she told a news conference on state TV NERIT. He told her, "I can't breathe. We're burning alive like rats, God help us. I love you," before the line went dead.
Turkish passenger Saadet Bayhan, speaking to Turkey's NTV television from a rescue ship, confirmed there were no fire alarms, and passengers woke each other. "We experienced the Titanic. The only thing missing was that we didn't sink," she said.
Of the 10 dead, one Greek man died Sunday trying to get into a lifeboat, with his wife, who survived; and four bodies were recovered from the sea Monday. The circumstances and identities of the others were unknown.
Teodora Douli, 56, told the ANSA news agency that her 62-year-old Greek husband may have hit his head as he fell. "I tried to save him but I couldn't," she said.
Helicopters rescued passengers throughout the night, completing 34 sorties with winds over 46 mph.
"Notwithstanding the weather and the darkness, which is another factor, we persisted throughout the entire night," Italian coast guard Adm. Giovanni Pettorino told Sky TG24.
Many rescued passengers remained on boats still searching off the Albanian coast. Authorities said they eventually would be taken by helicopter to land.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samras said the "massive and unprecedented operation saved the lives of hundreds of passengers following the fire on the ship in the Adriatic Sea — under the most difficult circumstances," while Italy's Renzi said the "impressive" rescue efforts prevented "a slaughter at sea."
Some 50 passengers rescued from a stricken car ferry which caught fire off the coast of Greece, arrive in Italy's southern port city of Bari, but more than 200 remain on board. Rough Cut (No Reporter Narration). Video provided by Reuters Newslook
Stanglin reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: The Associated Press
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