Update 7 | Five passengers confirmed dead, rescue mission ongoing

379 people were rescued by the Italian military forces from the Norman Atlantic ferry, leaving 99 still onboard, the Italian Navy has said.

Greek authorities said that five passengers were confirmed dead as the rescue mission continues. There are no further details at this time as maritime rescue personnel continue working to evacuate the ferry. 

#BREAKING Update #NormanAtlantic rescue by Italian Navy: 316 people rescued, 162 still on board the #ferry pic.twitter.com/22OlBlZzXF

— Marina Militare (@ItalianNavy) December 29, 2014

A Maltese man listed among hundreds of passengers on board a stricken Italian ferry burning off the coast of Greece has been succesfully evacuated by rescue officials this evening. 

Latest information suggests #Syria national residing in #Malta successfully evacuated from #NormanAtlantic and heading towards #Italy.

— Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) December 28, 2014

According to information published by Greek authorities, a total of 423 passengers and 55 crew were on board the Italian-flagged vessel Norman Atlantic. One Maltese person was on board the vessel. 234 passengers and 22 crew members were Greek, while 44 people on board were Italian. Other nationalities include Albanian, Russian, Hungarian, Germans, Turkish, Belgians, French, as well as Syrians and Egyptians.

However, despite the man being listed as a Maltese national on the company's passenger list, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the man - A. Almohamad - is possibly a Syrian national who was granted refugee status and used to live in Malta. Nevertheless, the man holds a Maltese identity card holder and was thus classified as being a Maltese national. 

In a tweet this evening, the prime miniser announced that the Syrian was successfully evacuated from the striken ship and was on his way to Italy.

Meanwhile, Italian news agencies confirmed that a Greek passenger on board the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic, died after attempting to escape the burning vessel, while two more were injured. Three children have been hospitalised suffering from hypothermia.  

A search and rescue operation is still underway. The vessel was carrying 222 vehicles, 423 passengers and 55 crew. It sent a distress signal after a fire started in the lower deck, Greek coast guard officials said. 

International rescue efforts have been hindered by the strong winds and bad weather, with Greek Shipping Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis saying it is “one of the most complicated rescue operations” they have ever done.

The fire broke out on the lower car deck of the vessel just before 6:00am local time while travelling from Patras in Western Greece to the eastern Italian city of Ancona.

Rescue efforts are expected to continue throughout the night.

Amid panic, Greek passengers on board the flaming vessel phoned Greek television stations and appealed for help.

Sofoklis Styliaras, a Greek passenger still on board the flaming vessel, told Mega television: "The fire is still burning. On the lower deck, where the lifeboats are, our shoes were starting to melt from the heat."

“There's nowhere else for us to go. It's impossible to walk on the lower deck because of the heat.”

“They tried to lower some boats, but not all of us could get in. There is no co-ordination,” another passenger on board told Greek television stations.

“It’s dark, the bottom of the vessel is on fire. We are on the bridge, we can see a boat approaching ... we opened some boxes and got some life vests. We are trying to save ourselves.”

It was unclear whether there had been any casualties or whether any passengers were in the water, where cold winter temperatures would make survival difficult unless rescue came quickly. 

“The ship is already being evacuated,” an official said, adding that 130 people had been transferred from a rescue boat to a container ship that had been nearby when the fire broke out.

The ship is not thought to be in any immediate danger of sinking. Several explosions have been heard from the lower deck of the ferry and there have been reports of rescue workers crying as they try to free those on board. Authorities said there had been no reports of injuries from anyone on board.