Frantic rescue follows Italian ferry fire
One panicked passenger jumped to his death, around 400 trapped on top decks
ATHENS— Hundreds of passengers and crew braved smoke and flames, frigid temperatures and gale-force winds Sunday as they waited for nearly a day to be evacuated from a burning ferry adrift in rough seas between Italy and Albania. At least one person died and two were injured in the risky rescue operation.
The Italian Navy said 190 of the 478 people on the ferry, which had set off from the Greek port of Patras bound for Ancona in Italy, had been evacuated by late Sunday night. Most were airlifted by helicopter to other merchant vessels sailing nearby, though a few were flown to hospitals in southern Italy to be treated for hypothermia.
“It will be a very difficult night. A night in which we hope we will be able to rescue all on-board,” Greek Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said in Athens.
He said 10 merchant ships were in the area assisting rescue efforts, and that those who had already taken on dozens of passengers from the stricken ferry would remain in the area until the operation was over. Only then would it be determined where they would go, he said.
Nevertheless, Italian officials in the Adriatic port of Brindisi were preparing for the first large group to arrive — some 49 people, expected sometime after midnight, the coast guard said.
The fire broke out before dawn Sunday on a car deck of the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic, carrying 422 passengers and 56 crew members, most of them Greek. Passengers huddled on the vessel’s upper decks, pelted by rain and hail and struggling to breathe in the thick smoke, passengers told Greek media by phone.
“The fire is still burning,” Greek passenger Sofoklis Styliaras told Greek Mega TV. “On the lower deck, where the lifeboats are, our shoes were starting to melt from the heat.”
He recalled people being awakened by “the smell of burning plastic” and that the heat from the fire felt like the floors were “boiling.”
The ferry was last inspected by the Patras Port Authority on Dec. 19 and six “deficiencies” were found, but none were so grave as to keep it in port, according to the report on the European Maritime Safety Agency’s website.
Italy and Greece sent navy and coast guard vessels and helicopters to the extensive rescue operation, while nearby merchant ships lined up to form a barrier to protect the ferry from towering waves. Rescue operations were to continue through the night.
The Italian Coast Guard, which was co-ordinating the rescue operation, said those flames visible from the outside of the ship had been extinguished by about 8:30 p.m., about 16 hours after the blaze began. But the ferry was still enveloped in dense smoke, which the Coast Guard said was probably coming from hot spots inside the ship.
Varvitsiotis described the efforts as “one of the most complex search and rescue operations we have dealt with in recent years.”
An Italian Air Force helicopter pilot said smoke was getting into the helicopter cabin, making rescue even more challenging.
“With the wind, smoke entered into the helicopter cabin, acrid smoke,” Maj. Antonio Laneve told Italian state TV.
Some of those they were trying to rescue were very frightened of being hoisted up by helicopter given the adverse weather, he said.
Nine of those evacuated were taken to the Italian town of Lecce, authorities said. Of those, three children and a pregnant woman were being treated for hypothermia in hospital.
“For sure they are scared,” said hospital manager Eligio Rocco Catamo. “But I should say that I was impressed by the calm and the serenity they are showing.”
The Italian Navy said the man who died and his injured wife were transported by helicopter to the southern Italian city of Brindisi.
It was unclear how tragedy struck, but the Greek Coast Guard said the pair were found in a lifeboat rescue chute.
Passengers described scenes of terror and chaos when the fire broke out as they slept in their cabins.
“They called first on women and children to be evacuated from the ship,” said Vassiliki Tavrizelou, who was rescued along with her 2-yearold daughter.
“Ships could not approach us because of the rain and winds,” Tavrizelou said by phone from Lecce. “We were at least four hours on the deck, in the cold and rain.”
The ship, run by a Greek ferry company, was packed with holidaymakers and truck drivers making the popular transport run between Greece and Italy.
In 2012, the Italian Costa Concordia cruise liner was shipwrecked after colliding with rocks close to the island of Giglio. There were 4,229 people on board and 32 died in that accident.
“Ships could not approach us because of the rain and winds. We were at least four hours on the deck, in the cold and rain.” VASSILIKI TAVRIZELOU PASSENGER RESCUED FROM FERRY