Ferry rescue operation

All updates in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC)

12:45 Italian authorities have announced all of the passengers and most of the crew have been evacuated from the Norman Atlantic. In accordance with maritime tradition, the crew members were expected to be the last to abandon the ship.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had earlier praised the efforts of the rescuers, speaking at a year-end media conference in Rome.

11:29 The death toll from the ferry disaster has risen to five. "The Italian authorities have confirmed that four bodies have been recovered," Greece's Maritime Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis told reporters on Monday.

One person, a Greek national, was confirmed to have died on Sunday during the rescue attempt. Overall, 391 people have been rescued from the Norman Atlantic, which was carrying a total of 478 passengers and crew when it caught fire on Sunday.

10:05 News agency AFP reports that a criminal investigation into the ferry fire has been opened by prosecutors in the port city of Bari. Prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe announced the probe to examine whether negligence contributed to the disaster, in which at least one person has died.

09:00 More than 140 people remain stranded on the drifting ferry more than a day after a fire began on its lower deck. The Italian navy, which has been coordinating the rescue effort, said a total of 335 of the 478 passengers and crew had been taken off the boat during the night. Helicopter crews had been using a winch to lift many of the passengers from the upper deck. A medical team boarded the ferry to assess the remaining passengers.

06:50 A ship carrying 49 people who had been rescued from the Norman Atlantic ferry has docked in the Italian port city of Bari. It's the first large group of victims to reach land.

06:20 The Italian navy reports that rescue teams working through the night had pulled 265 people off the car ferry which caught fire off the coast of Greece but more than 200 are still stranded on board,. "Despite the smoke, the dark and the horrible conditions, rescue activities continued without stop throughout the night," Italian navy Capt. Riccardo Rizzotto said, adding that another large Italian navy ship with a helicopter landing pad was headed to the scene to help.

It is yet unclear how the fire broke out, but it was reportedly under control by late Sunday evening.

Throughout the day, strong winds and choppy waters had hampered the efforts of teams from Greece, Italy and Albania to rescue more of the passengers.

The fire broke out on the the ANEK Lines ferry in the early hours of Sunday morning. At the time the ferry was about 44 nautical miles off the coast of Corfu, after leaving the Greek port of Patras en route to Ancona in Italy. The Italian Coast Guard confirmed earlier Sunday that one person had died and another had been injured. It was unclear how the death occurred, but the Greek Coast Guard said the pair were found in a lifeboat rescue chute.

In total, there were 478 passengers and crew aboard the ship, around 234 of whom were said to be Greek. According to the German Foreign Office, 18 Germans were also on board.

rg/se (AP, Reuters, dpa)