Two sailors killed trying to recover stricken ferry after fatal fire

Two Albanian seamen have died after a cable they were using to connect their tugboat to the fire-stricken Greek ferry Norman Atlantic broke. Dionis Dulaj, the police spokesman in the Albanian port town of Vlore, said the two were apparently hit by the line as they tried to attach it to the passenger ship. The deaths add to the total of 10 people confirmed dead after the ferry caught fire off the coast of Corfu as it travelled to the Italian port of Ancona. As the search for bodies continues, Italian authorities have expressed concern about the accuracy of the passenger manifest which has left them unclear about how many people were aboard.

I strongly doubt that all the names on the list are real - we have two persons with the same name, who turned out to be one person.

Greek Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis

In stormy seas and howling winds hundreds of people were rescued over a 24-hour period but there are fears that an unknown number may still be missing. Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said that 427 people had been winched to safety by helicopter. Thirty-eight people were unaccounted for, according to an updated list of passengers and crew from the Greek operator, but there were doubts over the manifest’s accuracy. None of the statements from survivors have so far suggested the death toll is likely to climb sharply but an empty lifeboat washed up on the shores of Albania, in one possible sign of more bad news to come.

It is up to the departure port to match up their list and the people (rescued). That is why we are continuing our (search) effort: we cannot know what the exact number was.

Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi

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