Rescuers battle flames to reach ferry passengers

Rescue specialists boarded a burning ferry in Greece to free two truck drivers who had been stranded inside the vessel for more than 15 hours Friday, but hope was fading for 11 others who were reported missing.

The rescuers descended from a helicopter onto the ship through thick clouds of smoke to eventually locate the two men inside the Euroferry Olympia ferry who had spent hours on a parking deck waiting for help.

The coast guard said 278 passengers and crew had been rescued earlier in the day from a fire that engulfed the ferry with 291 people on board near the Greek island of Corfu.

The cause of the blaze was unclear. The Italian ferry company said it started in a hold where vehicles were parked, while officials confirmed that nationals from Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Italy, and Lithuania were among the rescued.

“There was so much smoke. I thought we wouldn’t make it,” Albanian truck driver Zef Lufi told the Associated Press after his rescue.

The rescued passengers were transported to Corfu where 10 people were hospitalized, most with breathing difficulties.

Friday’s fire broke out in the Ionian Sea on the vessel three hours after it left the port of Igoumenitsa in northwestern Greece for the Italian port of Brindisi. Greek authorities said 239 passengers and 51 crew members were on board, adding that the vessel was transporting more than 153 trucks and 32 cars.

As night fell, the ship was surrounded by firefighting vessels, including a small car ferry used as a floating platform for fire trucks to assist in the effort.

The 600-foot Euroferry Olympia, built in 1995, is operated by the Grimaldi Group based in Naples.