The two Australians who were aboard the ferry which caught fire en route from Greece to Italy have been rescued.
The pair, who held dual Turkish-Australian citizenship, are safe and will be offered consular assistance, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The passenger and vehicle ferry, registered in Italy as the Norman Atlantic, caught fire on Sunday while sailing off Corfu in the Adriatic Sea. The vessel was travelling overnight from the Greek port of Patras, heading for the Italian port of Ancona.
427 people, including the two Australians, were winched to safety by helicopter in a dramatic rescue operation in heavy winter winds and seas.
10 people are so far known to have perished in the disaster and up to 41 passengers are still unaccounted for. However, there is some confusion about the number of missing; it is unclear if every person on the passenger list actually boarded the ferry or which passengers disembarked at an earlier stop-over, before the blaze broke out.
IMAGE: A survivor of the ferry ‘Norman Atlantic’ reacts as she hugs her children after arriving at the Elefsina military airport in Athens on December 29, 2014. The death toll after a ferry caught fire in rough seas in the Adriatic currently stands at 10 with dozens of passengers still unaccounted for. (ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP/Getty Images)
