At least 12 people died when a fire broke out aboard a Greek ferry, though rescuers managed to save 427 people off the boat, according to reports from Fox News and the Associated Press. All passengers and crew have now been evacuated from the vessel in the Adriatic Sea, between the coasts of Italy and Albania.

The blaze had started on the car deck of the Norman Atlantic, which was traveling from the Greek port of Patras to Ancona in Italy. The cause of the fire was under investigation, the AP said, though no decision has yet been made on where to take the vessel.

The original death toll of 10 was upped by two on Tuesday, when it became known that two Albanian tugboat sailors were killed while apparently trying to attach a line to the crippled, fire-blackened ferry.

Survivors, meanwhile, described scenes of chaos aboard the Norman Atlantic, where passengers were surprised by thick, acrid smoke that filled cabins and woke cabins without any fire alarms going off.

"Everyone there was trampling on each other to get onto the helicopter," Greek truck driver Christos Perlis said by telephone from one of the rescue vessels summoned to rescue passengers.

"The jungle law prevailed: There was no queue or order; no respect was shown for children," said Irene Varsioti, another Greek passenger.

Italian and Greek military and coast guard crews had battled gale-force winds and massive waves for hours during the night from Sunday to Monday, and helicopters had plucked small groups of people from the Norman Atlantic and to 10 mercantile ships waiting nearby.

The rescue operations were further complicated by confusion about the records kept by Anek Lines, the operator of the Italian-flagged vessel, according to the AP. The names that passengers used may have represented just reservations, rather than people who actually had boarded, Italian officials said.

Italian navy Adm. Giovanni Pettorino said 80 of those rescued were not on the list at all, giving credence to suggestions from Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi that the Norman Atlantic may have been carrying a number of immigrants illegally trying to reach the Southern European country.