Ashore: First group of ferry survivors makes it to land

Four more bodies have been recovered from a burning ferry off the coast of Corfu, Greek authorities have said, bringing the death toll to five. One Greek passenger was already known to have died after falling into the water during the rescue operation, which is being carried out amid stormy seas and winds of up to 46mph. At least 329 people have already been rescued from the Norman Atlantic car ferry, leaving about 140 still on board. The 422 passengers and 56 crew members were forced to spend hours being lashed by rain, hail and high winds on the top deck as they tried to avoid flames and smoke coming from one of the car decks.

Not withstanding the weather and the darkness, which is another factor, we persisted throughout the entire night.

Admiral Giovanni Pettorino, Italian coast guard

Officials said most of the passengers were Greek, but the passenger list included names from several other countries including Germany, Italy, Austria, Turkey, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Many appeared to be truck drivers. In the first three hours of the blaze on Sunday, around 150 people escaped via the vessel’s lifeboats, but once power went out, the boats could not be lowered to the water. Overnight, rescue teams battled choppy and dangerous waters to rescue those still stranded.

World Ferry fire