309 people have been rescued from a total of 478 aboard the Norman Atlantic that caught fire while traveling from the Greek port of Patras to Ancona in Italy. The ship ran into trouble at the Strait of Otranto that connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea separating Italy from Albania.

The distress signal was sent after the fire started at the car deck, carrying 222 vehicles. Gale-force winds and towering waves have hampered rescue efforts. The evacuation is being carried out in extreme conditions as the Italian and Greek military, coast guard rescue crews and helicopter teams are carrying out operations to save the people on the ship. Merchant ships in the area have created a ring around the ferry to protect it from the massive waves.

Efforts to tow the ship to a port in Italy have failed. 57-year-old Greek passenger George Doulis died from hypothermia after slipping overboard.

Merchant Marine Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis has said that the efforts are “one of the most complex search and rescue operations” that have been seen in recent years.

The ferry is enveloped in thick smoke even after the Italian Coast Guard managed to extinguish these at 8.30 p.m., around 16 hours after they began. The denseness of the smoke leads the Coast Guard to believe that there may be hot spots in the ship.

Nearby merchant ships are lining up to form a barrier to protect the ferry

Conditions on board

One of the passengers, speaking to Mega TV, said that their shoes were starting to melt from the heat. Another passenger said that smoke was engulfing the ship. Others said that some of those on board were suffering from hypothermia, especially young children.

The wife of a cook told journalists that her husband had called her, saying he couldn’t breathe and stating that they were “all going to burn like rats.”