BARI - A fire raced through the garage of an Italian car ferry returning to Italy from Greece with some 466 passengers and crew aboard today and the captain gave the order to abandon ship, maritime sources said.

 About 170 passengers from the Norman Atlantic were evacuated in lifeboats and were picked up by a freighter that steamed to the rescue but the crew were unable to operate other lifeboats due to the blaze aboard and an electrical  black out. 

The remaining 296 people aboard evidently were crowded in upper decks amid reports that water was flooding lower levels of the vessel, the sources and Coast Guard officers said.

 Four freighters in the area set off for the ferry and two tugboats with firemen aboard were sent from the southern Italian port of Bari. 

At least two rescue ships reached the ferry by mid morning but initally were unable to approach it close enough to take anyone off the stricken vessel because of the very rough sea, the sources said.

The ferry that set out from the northern Greek port of  Igomenitsa was due to arrive at the Adriatic port of Ancona (cq) this afternoon at 5 pm. Rescue operations are being coordinated by the Coast Guard at Bari but are hampered by high seas and gusting winds.

The Italian-flagged ship is managed by the Agenzia Archibugi company from Ancona in the Marche region.

Most of the passengers were lorry drivers but some were families with children, according to radio reports reaching Bari. Greek news reports said some of the lifeboats were destroyed by the fire aboard.

Italian Navy and Coast Guard helicopters from Sicily also were taking part in the rescue operation as well as a Greek army chopper and motor boats from the Apulian ports of Otranto and Santa Maria di Leuca. Other firefighters left aboard rescue vessels from Brindisi and Barletta.

The fire started at around 5:30 as the ferry was around 15 miles from the Albanian port of Valona.

"The weather conditions are not good, we are working with great difficulty, we hope that everything will be alright," Greeke Defence Minister Nikos Dendias told private Greek tv.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said in a tweet that "we are following the affair of the ferry between Greece and Italy, in contact with (Greek) premier Samaras and there is maximum involvement of our Navy."