At least one person has been killed and hundreds more remain trapped after an Italian ferry with almost500 people on board caught fire off the Greek island of Corfu.The Italian Navy said 190 of the 478 people on the ferry, sailing from the Greek port of Patras to Anconain Italy, had been evacuated by late Sunday night. Most were airlifted by helicopter to other merchant vessels sailing nearby.“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.The Norman Atlantic, carrying 222 vehicles, 422 passengers and about 56 crew, was 44 nautical miles northwest of Corfu when it sent a distress signal after a fire started on a car deck, Greek coast guard officials said.The evacuation was being carried out in difficult conditions, with Italian and Greek military and coast guard rescue crews operating in gale-force winds and massive waves .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.Varvitsiotis described the efforts as “one of the most complex search and rescue operations we have dealt with in recent years”.
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