More Bodies Likely on Fire-Hit Greek Ferry, Says Italy Prosecutor

Rome: The Italian prosecutor investigating the Norman Atlantic ferry disaster said today that he assumed more bodies would be found on the ship.

Bari prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe said the fact that a number of stowaways had been among those rescued from the ferry made it "likely" that others had perished in the fire that engulfed the vessel on Sunday morning. "It is likely that we will find other victims in the wreckage," Volpe told a press conference in the southern port of Bari.

Italian coastguards have so far recovered ten bodies and two Albanian seamen have also died as a result of a tugboat accident during the salvage operation.

Nearly 40 passengers listed as having been on the ferry are still unaccounted for but it is unclear whether this is due to them having died as a result of the fire or by drowning, or the result of errors in the ship's manifest.