After the major fire on the car ferry "Euroferry Olympia" early Friday morning, at least eleven people were still missing, according to the Greek authorities in the evening.

Greek media reported 14 missing.

The Grimaldi shipping company had previously reported that all 237 passengers and 51 crew members had been safely brought to the island of Corfu.

The Italian-flagged ferry was traveling from Igoumenitsa in Greece to Bari in southern Italy at around 4.30am when a refrigerated truck apparently caught fire in the ferry's hold.

The captain of the ferry called everyone on board to a meeting point.

The passengers and crew were taken to an Italian financial police patrol boat operating near the scene of the accident and to a Greek Coast Guard ship.

The rescue operation was favored by the calm weather conditions.

The accident happened about nine nautical miles (almost 17 kilometers) off the coast of Corfu.

Eyewitnesses reported that at the time of the evacuation, flames several meters high had already erupted from the hold, and panic had spread among the passengers.

According to the shipping company, the burned-out ship was stable on Friday evening and no fuel had escaped.

Since there was also a migrant among those rescued on Corfu who was not noted on the passenger list, there could have been more people on board than previously assumed.