Burning ferry rescue efforts

In this image taken from a Dec. 28, 2014 video and made available Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014 p Passengers of the Italian-flagged ferry Norman Atlantic wait to be lifted from the deck by a rescue helicopter on Dec. 28, after it caught fire in the Adriatic Sea.

A person is lifted from the deck of the Italian-flagged ferry Norman Atlantic by a rescue helicopter on Dec. 28 in this image from video.

Passengers wait to be rescued on Dec. 28. The disaster erupted before dawn when a fire broke out on a car deck on the ferry as it sailed from the Greek port of Patras toward the Italian port of Ancona. All day and night, passengers huddled on the vessel's upper decks, pelted by rain and hail and struggling to breathe through the thick smoke.

Passengers gather on deck.

Passengers await rescue from the Italian-flagged ferry Norman Atlantic after it caught fire in the Adriatic Sea.

Passengers gather inside the car ferry amid smoke after the ship caught fire in the Adriatic Sea.

A survivor of the ferry "Norman Atlantic" reacts as she hugs her children after arriving at the Elefsina military airport in Athens.

Rescued passengers of the Norman Atlantic, Marko Gondolo and his daughter Serafina, 5, sit and wait after their arrival at Elefsina Air Base outside Athens.

An injured passenger from the Norman Atlantic is taken off the freight ship Spirit of Piraeus in the port city of Bari, Italy.

Passengers and crew of the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic disembark from a ship in Bari, southern Italy.

Smoke billows from the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic that caught fire in the Adriatic Sea.

Rescuers assist a passenger of the Norman Atlantic in Bari, southern Italy.

Survivors of the ferry "Norman Atlantic" are welcomed by relatives after arriving at the port of Igoumenitsa in northern Greece.

A ferry passenger disembarks from the cargo ship.

An evacuee, left, is embraced by a relative as he disembarks from the cargo ship, the Spirit of Piraeus after arriving in Bari on Dec. 29.

A photo grab taken from a video made available by the Marina Militare Italiana on Dec. 29 shows the ongoing rescue operation.

A woman is lifted from the deck of the Italian-flagged ferry Norman Atlantic by a rescue helicopter after the ship caught fire in the Adriatic Sea. Italian and Greek rescue crews battled gale-force winds and massive waves as they struggled to evacuate hundreds of people from a ferry on fire and adrift in the channel between Italy and Albania. At least one person died and two were injured.

Smoke billows from the Italian-flagged Norman Atlantic after it caught fire in the Adriatic Sea. A fire erupted on the ferry carrying 478 people from Greece to Italy.

The burning ferry Norman Atlantic adrift off Albania in the Adriatic Sea.

The burning ferry Norman Atlantic adrift off Albania in the Adriatic Sea.

A passenger is lifted from the deck of the Italian-flagged ferry Norman Atlantic by a rescue helicopter after the ship caught fire in the Adriatic Sea.

A woman is carried by paramedics as passengers of the ferry that caught fire in the channel between Italy and Albania are transported to the town of Otranto, near Lecce, southern Italy.