One of the passengers Nikos Papatheodosiou describes from Norman Atlantic the dramatic situation to protothema.gr.

“I don’t know where to hold on from, the ship is inclined, I can’t breathe from the smoke , help us, everyone has deserted us” was shouting desperate down the phone.

The passengers give a brutal battle against raging winds and flames as the night approaches.

Helicopters of the Italian armed forces and a Super Puma of the Greek Air Force are trying to transfer hundreds of passengers from the deck of the Norman Atlantic to sail ships, but their efforts were hampered by extreme weather conditions.