意大利载400余人渡轮希腊海域失火

 　　(Reuters) - An international rescue effort was under way in high winds after a car ferry carrying 466 passengers and crew caught fire while sailing from Greece to Italy and its captain ordered its evacuation, officials said on Sunday.

　　（路透社）——官方在周日称，一艘载有466名乘客和工作人员的汽车渡轮在从希腊出发到意大利的途中因急风起火，船长下令紧急疏散，国际救援正在紧张展开中。

　　Passengers who telephoned Greek television stations gave dramatic testimony¹ of conditions on the ship, which caught fire just before 6.00 a.m. local time (11.00 p.m. EST) while traveling from Patras in western Greece to the eastern Italian city of Ancona.

　　当地时间就在早上6点前（东时区晚上11点），从希腊西边的佩特雷开往意大利东部城市安科纳的渡轮上，致电希腊电视台的乘客发回了船上揪人心弦的实况转述。

　　"They tried to lower some boats, but not all of us could get in. There is no coordination," one said. "It's dark, the bottom of the vessel² is on fire. We are on the bridge, we can see a boat approaching... we opened some boxes and got some life vests, we are trying to save ourselves."“他们试图放一些船下去，但是不是我们所有人都能乘上去。没人来协调，”一名乘客说道。“天很黑，船底部失火了。我们都在夹板上，我们能看到一只船向我们靠近……我们打开一些箱子找到了一些救生衣，我们试图自救。”

　　It was unclear whether there had been any casualties³ or whether any passengers were in the water, where cold winter temperatures would make survival⁴ difficult unless rescue came quickly.

　　船上是否有人员伤亡尚且未知，也不知是否有乘客落水，而寒冷的气温会让救援难度增加，除非救援能尽快到达。

　　"The ship is already being evacuated," an official told Reuters, adding that 130 people had been transferred from a rescue boat to a container ship that had been nearby when the fire broke out.

　　“船只已经被疏散了，”一名官方人员告诉路透社，并补充道在起火时，已有130人从救生船上被转移到附近的运货船上。

　　Officials said both Italian and Albanian authorities were taking part in the operation, which was being conducted in difficult conditions with strong winds.

　　官方称，强风的恶劣天气下，意大利和阿尔巴尼亚当局都参与了救援。

1 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

2 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

3 casualties   

n. 伤亡人员

参考例句：

• Two casualties were airlifted to safety . 两名伤亡人员已空运到安全地区。
• The army were still fighting in spite of heavy casualties. 尽管伤亡人员众多，军队仍在继续战斗。

4 survival   

n.留住生命，生存，残存，幸存者

参考例句：

• The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子，说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
• The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。