An abandoned cargo ship packed with cars is adrift in the Atlantic Ocean after a rapidly-spreading fire on board forced the crew to escape.

The almost 200-metre-long Felicity Ace roll-on/roll-off car-carrying ship caught fire in the North Atlantic on Wednesday as it carried cargo, including Porsches and Volkswagens, from Emden, Germany to Davisville, Rhode Island.

At the time of the fire's outbreak, the ship was sailing 90 nautical miles southwest of Portugal's Azores, according to a statement on Wednesday by the Portuguese Navy.

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After the fire broke out in the cargo hold, it spread and forced all 22 crew members to abandon ship.

According to another statement by the Portuguese Navy, the crew was safely picked up and taken to a local hotel, with the rescue coordinated by the Ponta Delgada Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center. There has been no noticeable source of pollution from the fire, according to the statement.

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The ship's owners have arranged for a tow as it continues to burn. Registered to Panama, the Felicity Alice is operated by Japanese shipping line Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL). MOL has not responded to request for comment.

Porsche confirmed to CNN Business that a number of its cars were among the cargo and that customers with cars on board the burning ship are being contacted by their dealers.

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"While it remains too early to confirm what occurred and next steps, we are — along with our colleagues at Porsche AG — supporting our customers and our dealers as best we can to find solutions," said Angus Fitton, Vice President of PR at Porsche Cars North America.

"We are in contact with the shipping company and the details of the cars on board are now known."

Expectant Porsche owners with cars on board like journalist and host Matt Farah, who said he had a 2022 Porsche Boxster Spyder awaiting delivery, have already started receiving word from dealerships about the status of their vehicles.

"The dealer confirmed that my car, along with at least a dozen other vehicles they were expecting, is on that boat," Farah said. "They had no further information for me beyond confirming my car was on the boat, and said that as soon as Porsche Cars North America has a plan of any kind with how to proceed, that they would share the plans with me."

Volkswagen also has customers awaiting vehicles on the burning cargo ship.

"We are aware of an incident involving a third-party cargo ship transporting Volkswagen Group vehicles across the Atlantic. The vessel was on its way to North America," said Dirk Ameer, a Volkswagen spokesperson.

"At this time, we are not aware of any injuries. We are in contact with the shipping company to get more information about the incident."

The Felicity Ace can carry over 17,000 metric tons of cargo, according to the Associated Press, with possibly thousands of cars on board .

The Portugese Navy said that as of Thursday, the fire is ongoing, and an ocean patrol vessel remains on site to monitor the abandoned ship.

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Firefighters and rescuers raced to free two truck drivers still trapped in a burning ferry off northwestern Greece Friday after most of the nearly 300 people on board were evacuated, while authorities said another 11 people were reported missing.

The coast guard said 278 passengers and crew had been rescued from a fire that engulfed the Italy-bound Euroferry Olympia with 291 people on board near the Greek island of Corfu.

Officials said two truck drivers were stranded on the burning vessel awaiting a helicopter rescue that required assistance from Fire Department special forces due to the thick smoke that continued to billow out of the vessel.

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The cause of the blaze was unclear. The Italy-based ferry company said it started in a hold where vehicles were parked.

"This is a difficult operation and we must remain cautious. The final accounting of the people on board will take place on Corfu when everyone rescued is assembled there," Greek Deputy Minister for Shipping Costas Katsafados told state-run ERT television.

The rescued passengers were transported to Corfu where 10 people were hospitalised. None were in serious condition and most had breathing difficulties.

Greek authorities said 239 passengers and 51 crew members were on board, adding that the vessel was transporting more than 153 trucks and 32 cars.

The predawn fire broke out in the Ionian Sea on the Italy-flagged Euroferry Olympia three hours after it left the port of Igoumenitsa in northwest Greece for the Italian port of Brindisi.

The ship was northeast of the island of Ereikousa, close to Corfu, when the fire broke out, with the Coast Guard receiving a call about the fire on the ship around 4:30am local time.

Helicopter video released by the Greek coast guard showed thick smoke billowing from the vessel hours after the rescue started.

While a video published on the Greek news website Proto Thema showed the 183-metre ferry engulfed in flames amid plumes of smoke, with "May Day" blasting from the speakers.

A spokesperson for Grimaldi Lines, owner of the 1995-built Euroferry Olympia, told Reuters that while the cause of the fire was under investigation there were indications it started within the ship's hold.

Greek truck driver Giorgos Parlantzas, one of the rescued passengers, recounted what took place on the Euroferry Olympia. "I was sleeping in my cabin when they came to alert us. I grabbed my ID and headed for the deck where people were being assembled. It must have been about 3.00 or 4.00am. And we were put onto boats," Parlantzas told the AP, speaking by telephone after arriving in Corfu.

Six boats from Greece's coast guard and navy participated in the rescue effort along with four helicopters, an Italian customs inspection boat and several passing vessels, senior coast guard official Nikos Lagadianos said.

Rescued passengers, many wrapped in foil blankets, arrived in Corfu aboard the Italian inspection vessel and were being taken to an assembly area where paramedics were carrying out first aid checks, local officials said. Italy's customs agency said 243 people were rescued by its vessel.

Speaking on ERT, Corfu Hospital Director Leonidas Roubatis confirmed that three passengers with light injuries had been brought in as a precaution, and that an infant was also expected to be examined as a precaution.

In 2014, 10 people were killed when a car ferry carrying 466 passengers and crew caught fire while sailing from Greece to Italy.

A grieving Perth mother is campaigning for a unique instrument to be set up to help people connect with lost loved ones.

Merle Taylor says she hopes to have a 'wind phone' installed in the suburb of Bayswater, just north-east of Perth.

A 'wind phone' is an disconnected telephone booth that serves as a place where people can have one-way conversations with loved ones who have passed away.

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The concept originated in Japan in 2011 as way of grieving following a devastating tsunami and earthquake in the Tōhoku region that killed more than 15,000 people.

Ms Taylor lost her son Chris when he was just 34 years old after he stopped breathing in his sleep during a holiday in Bali with his wife and two young boys, she told 9News.

"Chris was an amazing man and father," Ms Taylor said.

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Now she says she wants to connect with her deceased son through the 'wind phone', and hopes it can help others too, with the disconnected phone line designed to act as an avenue of comfort for the grieving.

"It's just a telephone that people can go and use to talk to a loved one that's on the other side," Ms Taylor said.

"Picking up a phone and dialling a phone number just changes everything."

Ms Taylor said she hopes the public 'wind phone' can be installed at Claughton Reserve in Bayswater, which was her son's favourite spot.

"I think it's a lovely sentiment," Bayswater Mayor Filomena Piffaretti said.

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"I can't imagine what it feels like to lose a child but I do know what it feels like to lose a loved one. Grief affects all of us and I know this [wind phone] is a tool that's been used successfully in Japan as part of the healing process," Ms Piffaretti said.

The Bayswater Council is set to vote on the 'wind phone' proposal on Tuesday, and Ms Taylor says it will mean a lot to her if it gets approved.

"You do whatever you can to get through it and this just might be one thing that people can use that will help them get through their grief."

Every morning three soldiers, dressed for warmth, march up the ski run that leads to our hotel.

They march in file, in stride, alongside the chairlift that has been shut down for the Winter Olympics, to the halfway point of the piste and stand guard.

Exactly who they are expecting to come tearing down the slope isn't clear, but the whole process is indicative of a Games where security and the pandemic loom over every moment.

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The effort from China is enormous.

"Part of these Games was always going to be that it's the COVID games," Australian chef de mission Geoff Lipshut said a few days after arriving.

"Our athletes are being very well looked after."

The Omicron variant swept the globe at the worst possible time for these Olympics, forcing an almighty rework from games officials.

Masks are compulsory everywhere; temperatures are checked everywhere.

The notorious test on arrival in Beijing is more sensitive to remnants of the virus, catching hundreds of people out, including Australian athletes Tahli Gill and Katie Parker.

Crowds are limited to a couple of dozen members of the Communist Party, sitting in a socially distanced-checkerboard pattern waving flags when instructed to by volunteers.

The definitive memory of these games, for those lucky enough to be here, will likely be the volunteers in head-to-toe protective clothing.

There are tens of thousands of these volunteers.

They were the first things we saw leaving the plane at Beijing Airport, they clean, they test, they deliver food and complete maintenance on the newly built resorts in the mountains.

They are a crucial part of keeping COVID-19 out of the village and the venues.

They also live away from their families for the duration of the Games inside the "enclosed loop" – a series of interconnected isolation bubbles that have been established for the Winter Olympics.

Every person is tested every day and you're not permitted to leave the loop.

Anyone that does faces a fortnight in a Chinese quarantine facility.

These strict rules deny our athletes the usual perks of Olympics, the visits to city centres, celebrations with teammates and the progressive party of the Olympic village.

But for gold medallist Jakara Anthony, the rules assisted her focus.

"I actually think the bubble is excellent," she said before winning the women's moguls.

"I feel as if the bubble is our safe haven."

The Australian team has the benefit of a live-in nutritionist preparing food for them in the village and the much-hyped barista on site.

"Coffee is a performance-enhancing stimulant," cross country skier Phil Bellingham said straight-faced when questioned about the barista by a foreign reporter.

Other teams haven't been so lucky.

The Norwegian delegation has complained about food, the Swedes are concerned about the cold.

And it is cold.

Zhangjiakou, the mountain city in China's Hebei province that plays host to most of the snow events, has had more days below -20C than above.

The weather is better in Beijing, where the ice events are being held and where the Bird's Nest became the first venue to host opening ceremonies of both the summer and winter Games.

In Beijing, robots both prepare and deliver food in a large food hall that also features a robotic bartender mixing cocktails.

The major hubs are linked by a bullet train that has been established for the Games and operates for people inside the closed loop only.

It cuts the three-hour drive into a 50-minute trip.

The train is impressive, comfortable and slick.

Screens on board regularly update passengers on the travel speed, at times boasting 350km/h.

This is the Beijing organisers were hoping to show off to everyone before Omicron stormed the globe.

"The world is turning its eyes to China," President Xi said.

"And China is ready.

"China will do its best to deliver to the world a simple, safe and splendid Games."

Simple.

Nothing about these Games was meant to be simple – this was meant to be China's coronation as a winter sport nation and global winter power.

The big air jump launching athletes into the sky surrounded by an edgy, urban defunct steel mill wasn't designed for simplicity.

The robotic waiters, ultra-fast train and lights along the great wall of China – not simple.

Organising those thousands of volunteers and millions of tests can't be simple.

But the Games have gone ahead.

Put simply, that might be the crowning achievement of Beijing 2022.

A bill to prohibit the "convenient" murder of animals inside rescue shelters has passed in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.

The Companion Animals Amendment (Rehoming Animals) Bill 2021 enforces councils to take certain steps towards rehoming a seized or surrendered animal before euthanisation – ensuring further safeguarding for impounded animals across the state.

The RSPCA NSW said the new legislation was a win for animal welfare.

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"This is a huge step in the right direction and will help build on a lot of the good work that many councils have already achieved," RSPCA NSW CEO Steve Coleman said.

"Every animal deserves a fair go at a second chance, and we can only achieve this by working together.

"More than anything, this Bill sets up the framework for a solid network dedicated to saving more animals lives."

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Animal shelters in NSW have come under scrutiny for euthanising animals as a cheaper practice than finding them their forever home.

The bill was introduced after 15 dogs and puppies were shot by Bourke Shire Council in August, despite at least two rescue organisations offering to rehome them.

The council was cleared of any legal wrongdoing after investigations by the RSPCA, the NSW Ombudsman and Office of Local Government.

Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst tabled the bill, which was carried to the lower house by independent Alex Greenwich.

"The shooting of these dogs should never have happened. Now we can be sure it will never happen again," Ms Hurst said.

"This atrocity could have been avoided – our weak laws failed these dogs."