Helicopters are plucking passengers off a burning ferry in pairs in the Adriatic Sea as rescue teams battle darkness and poor weather.
The rescue operation is continuing as a British man trapped on board told how hundreds of passengers were huddled together on the top deck of the ferry.
Around 161 passengers have been rescued, with 317 still on board. At least one person has died after jumping off the burning ship.
Thick smoke engulfed the ferry, and passengers still on board said the ship had begun to list to one side.
"There's a lot of smoke, we can't breathe," passenger Nikos Papatheodosiou told Greece's state-run Nerit television as darkness fell. "Panic, there's panic," he said.
Passengers described scenes of terror and chaos when the fire broke out as they slept in their cabins.
One of those on board is British show-jumper Nicholas Channing-Williams, thought to be travelling with his fiance Regina Theofilli.
His mother Dottie Channing-Williams said she was speaking to her son when the phone call cut off.
Ms Channing-Williams told Sky News: "People in Greece are saying that their communications have been cut off, so as not to hamper rescue operations which I can fully understand.
"They're keeping me updated via the news coming over the Greek television. But nevertheless it is very, very worrying and very scary.
"So I just hope that they will be able to get everybody off there as soon as possible."
A colleague of the Briton had spoken to him 20 minutes earlier - and said Mr Channing-Williams had reported passengers being huddled together on the ship.
The vessel caught fire just after 6am local time about 35 miles north of Corfu, close to the Albanian city of Vlora, while it was travelling from Patras, Greece, to Ancona in Italy with 478 on board.
Italian and Greek helicopter crews prepared to work through the night to airlift passengers off the ferry.
An Albanian tugboat was this evening preparing to fix a line and tow the stricken car ferry to Albania's main port of Durres , an official in the port of Vlore said on Sunday.
Some passengers called Greek TV stations in desperation as they huddled on top of the Norman Atlantic while the ship was battered by gales.
Several hundred are thought to be exposed to a raging storm and billowing smoke, while a blaze burns and explosions are heard below.
Most of those rescued were transported to other nearby ships, but nine were taken to the Italian town of Lecce. Of those, three children and a pregnant woman were being treated for hypothermia in Lecce hospital.
Dr Raffaele Montinaro said the children were in "excellent" condition, and emergency room doctor, Antonio Palumbo, said the mother's condition was also good.
Greek and Albanian authorities, using planes and at least five helicopters, are taking part in the rescue operation which is being led by the Italians.
The heat from the fire is said to be so intense it was melting the shoes of those who were not on the top decks.
One passenger who called Greek TV said: "They tried to lower some boats, but not all of us could get in. There is no coordination. It's dark, the bottom of the vessel is on fire. We are trying to save ourselves."
Another, quoted by Greek newspaper The Daily, appealed for help saying: "We urgently need help. We cannot leave the ship. There are boats but we are trapped."
Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, Greece's Merchant Marine Minister, said several ships are in the area, the closest of which is the cruise ship Europa, which is leading the rescue operation.
He said: "We are doing everything we can to save those on board and no one, no one will be left helpless in this tough situation."
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Twitter he is talking to his Greek counterpart Antonis Samaras about the rescue effort.
The ship is owned by the Italian company VISEMAR de Navigazione and chartered to Greek ferry firm ANEK Lines SA. It runs on a route which in the summer is popular with tourists heading to the southern Greek mainland.
Further north, a Turkish-registered merchant ship sank in the northern Adriatic Sea off the Italian port of Ravenna on Sunday following a collision with another vessel in rough seas. One died and five crew members are unaccounted for.
Sky News
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