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Two Russians among passengers of ferry on fire in Adriatic Sea - Russian embassy in Rome

Earlier on Sunday, local media said that two Russian might have been onboard the ill-fated ferry

ROME, December 28. /TASS/. Two Russian nationals are among the passengers of the Norman Atlantic ferry which is on fire in the Adriatic Sea, Sergei Patronov, head of the consular department of the Russian embassy in Rome, told TASS on Sunday.

We have received from the Greek authorities the lists of the ferry’s passengers, among who are two Russian citizens - Doroshenko and Sholokh,” the diplomat said, adding that these two were a male and a female. He said so far there was no information whether these two persons were among those evacuated from the ferry.

Earlier on Sunday, local media said that two Russian might have been onboard the ill-fated ferry. “Information about the nationalities of passengers has been made available: one Romanian, two Russians, six Austrians, two Hungarians, ten Swiss nationals, one Croatian, eight Georgians, five Syrians, one citizen of Sweden, one Canadian, two Ukrainian, one Egyptian, 18 Germans, 54 Turks, two Afghans, 22 Albanians, one Maltese, seven Bulgarians, three Macedonians, two Britons, 22 Italians, three Dutchmen, three Belgians, nine French nationals, two citizens of Iraq and 234 Greeks,” according to the newspaper Vima. “The crew is make up of 22 Italians and 34 Greeks.”

Fire started early on Sunday onboard the Norman Atlantic cruise ferry en route from Greece’s Patras to Italy’s Ancona under the Italian flag. The boat is currently 33 nautical miles northeast of the Italian town of Ortanto and 12 miles of Albania’s port of Valona. No information is available about those hurt or missing.

At the moment of fire, there were 478 passengers. According to earlier reports, as many as 56 people were saved and about 100 were in a big life boat that was being berthed at a cargo ship. More than 300 passengers and crew members are to be evacuated from the ferry.