Airlift begins for hundreds trapped on burning Italian ferry

Air crews began lifting passengers off a burning ferry adrift in the Adriatic Sea on Sunday, racing to rescue as many of the hundreds trapped on board as possible before nightfall as storms hampered seaborne operations. Helicopters were taking passengers off the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic in pairs and transferring them to a nearby vessel, officials said. There were no confirmed reports of casualties and differing accounts of how many people had been rescued from the ferry, which was carrying almost 500 passengers and crew when it sent a distress signal early on Sunday after fire broke out on its lower deck. Greek authorities said 131 people were clear of the danger zone while an official said 150 had managed to get off the ship aboard a rescue boat. Each air transfer was taking around 15 minutes per helicopter, according to a Greek defence ministry official. Another official said two Italian and two Greek helicopters were involved in the rescue. Coastguard spokesman Nikos Lagkadianos said the heavy rain that was hampering the rescue had helped contain the fire although the ship was still burning. Two tugboats were present, one of which had managed to approach the ship to try to extinguish the blaze, according to a news agency.