Ferry rescue in Adriatic Sea

International rescue teams led by Italy worked through the night in freezing conditions into Monday, using helicopters and winches to pluck hundreds of passengers from the top deck of the Norman Atlantic. This group arrived on the Italian navy vessel San Giorgio. About 150 people remained stranded on the ship Monday morning.

The ferry was left drifting after fire took hold on its lower decks early Sunday. Bad weather during the day and overnight hampered efforts to attach cables to the ferry for tugging. Because the sea approach was so dangerous, helicopters were used to reach the passengers and crew on board.

In total, there were 478 passengers and crew aboard the ship, about half of whom were from Greece. They had to wait hours for rescue in freezing conditions, with some phoning Greek television statons to describe their plight. "We are soaked, we are cold and we are coughing from the smoke," Giorgos Styliaras told Mega TV on Sunday.

The fire which crippled the ferry is thought to have broken out in a car deck in the lower part of the ship when it was about 44 nautical miles off the Greek Island of Corfu. The heat was so ferocious that passengers reported their shoes melting if they tried to walk on the lower decks.

While many of the rescued passengers were transfered to hospitals in Italy and Greece in small groups, the first large group of 49 survivors arrived in the Italian harbor of Bari early Monday on cargo ship the Spirit of Piraeus. At least one passenger has been killed in the disaster in circumstances which are as yet unclear.

The Italian-flagged ferry operated by the Greek shipping line ANEK was traveling from Patras in Greece to Ancona in Italy. According to news agency AFP, a criminal investigation has been opened into how the ship caught fire at sea. Bari prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe announced the probe to see whether negligence contributed to the disaster.