WATCH: Fire breaks out on cruise ship with 288 onboard

A fire broke out an Italian-flagged cruise ship sailing through the Mediterranean’s Ionian Sea on Friday. As per Greek port police, the ship was carrying 237 passengers and 51 crew.

Secretary of State for the Merchant Navy, Kostas Katsafados, told Greek radio station Skai all passengers from the Euroferry Olympia are safe and on rescue boats.

Cruise ship fire

No casualties, passengers evacuated

The passengers of the Euroferry Olympia were headed to Brindisi, Italy from the Greek city of Igoumenitsa.

No casualties have been reported and police said three tug boats and three patrol boats were sent to help passengers.

Officials said the captain of the Euroferry Olympia asked the passengers to leave the boat.

They were being transported to the nearby Greek island of Corfu, said the Greek coastguard, which was leading the rescue operation.

Details of the cruise ship fire

The incident took place around 3:30am SA Standard Time on Friday morning, off the northern coast of Corfu between Greece and Albania, an official from the Greek coastguard’s press office told AFP.

The cause of the fire is not yet known and an investigation has begun, the agency said.

As per (the automatic identification system), the current position of Euroferry Olympia is at East Mediterranean (coordinates 39.97747 N / 19.67572 E).

Euryferry Olympia

The last entry on Vessel Finders shows the ship enroute to the port of Brindisi, Italy, sailing at a speed of 1.0 knots. It was expected to arrive at its destination at 7:30 on 18 February.

The 27-year-old Euroferry Olympia – classified as a Passenger/Ro-Ro Cargo Ship – built in 1995 and is currently sailing under the flag of Italy.

Edited AFP copy; and additional reporting by Cheryl Kahla.