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All remaining passengers have been taken off the ferry Norman Atlantic, which caught fire off the island of Corfu, Italian officials say, the BBC reported. 

Five people died in the incident. One man was killed when trying to escape the ship, and a further four bodies have been recovered from the sea.

More than 400 people were rescued, in a long and complex operation amid gale-force winds and thick smoke.

The Italian navy said only the captain and four officials were on the ship.

It is still unclear what caused the fire to break out on Sunday on the car deck of the ferry, which was carrying 478 people from the Greek city of Patras to Ancona in Italy.

Italian prosecutors announced on Monday that they had opened a criminal investigation into the fire and would look into whether negligence had played a role.