Fire breaks out on ferry near Greece with 288 people on board

Police said three tug boats and three patrol boats helped passengers off the 'Euroferry Olympia'

Hundreds of passengers were rescued from an Italian-flagged cruise ship off the coast of Greece after a fire was reported on board.

The rescue of the 237 passengers and 51 crew members took place near the Greek city of Igoumenitsa, according to local news reports.

Police said three tug boats and three patrol boats had been sent to help passengers off the Euroferry Olympia, which was heading to Italy from Igoumenitsa.

“The captain of the Euroferry Olympia asked the passengers to leave the boat,” police said.

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

No casualties have been reported so far.

The ferry had sailed from Igoumenitsa and was headed to the Italian port of Brindisi. EPA

The incident took place around 1.30am GMT off the northern coast of Corfu, between Greece and Albania, an official from the Greek coastguard told AFP.

The cause of the fire has yet to be known and an investigation is under way, according to the Greek coastguard.

A video uploaded on Greek news website Proto Thema showed the 183-metre ferry engulfed in flames and huge plumes of smoke. "May Day" was blasting from speakers.

"We were woken up around 4:30am. The fire probably broke out in the garage," one of the passengers on board a rescue vessel told Mega TV via telephone.

Ship tracking data provided by Refinitive Eikon showed the Euroferry Olympia performing a U-turn northwest of the North Corfu channel.