TIRANA, Jan. 5 – Eleven people died, more are thought to be missing and more than 400 passengers were evacuated at high seas near the Albanian coast after a ferry traveling from Greece to Italy caught fire, sparking an international rescue operation that took the lives of two Albanian mariners.
The Norman Atlantic passenger ship was traveling from Patras, Greece to Ancona, Italy on Dec. 28 when it spotted the fire coming from the big garage where the vehicles are parked during the trip.
The investigation is continuing on how the fire started, but it appears it was largely fueled by trucks transporting olive oil.
The deaths and injuries happened from the fire, smoke and after some passengers jumped into frigid sea to the escape fire.
After the alarm was issued, Italian and Greek military and coast guard rescue crews battled gale-force winds and massive waves as they struggled to rescue hundreds of people trapped on the burning ferry adrift between Italy and Albania.
The fire broke out before dawn on a car deck of the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic, carrying 422 passengers and 56 crew members. Passengers huddled on the vessel’s upper decks, pelted by rain and hail, passengers told Greek media by phone.
Greece and Italy issued widely different figures for how many people are still not accounted for. The numbers ranged from as many as 98, according to Italian prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe, to 18, according to the Greek Merchant Marine Ministry, which said the Italians list was inaccurate.
The vessel was tugged the first day of the year to Brindisi, Italy from a powerful tug boat while the sea was still rough.
The ferry was stranded not far from the Albanian coast for days, as closed as four miles.
Two sailors of an Albania tugboat died before that when their boat went in rough seas to assist another Albanian boat trying to keep the burning ferry under control.
Albanian port authorities said they were angry with statements from Italian prosecutors who had said the Albanians shouldn’t have interfered. Albanian port officials said the Vlora and Durres based boats had been contracted by the ferry’s owners and worked to avoid an environmental disaster after Italian boats “abandoned” the burning and empty ferry.
The Italian Coast Guard said 477 people were rescued from the ferry. That figure, plus the 11 dead, would mean at least 488 people had been on board. That’s more than the 474 people Greek officials said were on the register — leading to questions about Italy’s rescue tally or suggestions the ferry also carried an unknown number of unregistered migrants.
Meanwhile the ferry is in the Italian port of Brindisi, where Italian authorities have been trying to inspect it, searching for any other possible bodies. They have yet to enter the big garage due to existing some there.
Italy rescued or discovered some 170,000 migrants and asylum seekers at sea last year as they tried to slip into Europe.
There were also about three dozen Albanians in the ferry. Italian authorities have reported that one of them is among the 11 dead, but Tirana says there is no report of any death from Albanians.
