At least one survivor found after ferry from Greece to Italy catches fire

Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Rescue teams have found at least one person alive who went missing when a ferry from Greece to Italy caught fire.

The EuroFerry Olympia was traveling from Igoumenitsa, Greece to Brindisi, Italy when the blaze broke out leading to the rescue of 278 passengers and crew members, the Greek Ministry of Shipping & Island Policy said in a statement.

After the fire, survivors were taken to the Greek island of Corfu while rescue teams searched for a dozen people who remained missing.

At least one of the missing passengers, a 21-year-old truck driver from Belarus, has been rescued alive from the wrecked ship, The New York Times reported.

The Hellenic Fire Service said on Sunday that another of the 12 missing people was found dead, leaving rescue teams to continue the search for 10 missing passengers.

Nikolaos Alexiou, a spokesman for the Greek Coast Guard, told The New York Times that the fire is still burning and has made rescue operations "very difficult."

"There's a lot of smoke, it's dark and the temperatures are extremely high," he said.

The captain and two officers of the ship were arrested upon their arrival in Corfu but were later released after providing explanations for the fire, the Hellenic Coast Guard said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire to break out on the ship.