Car Ferry Catches Fire off Isle of Wight
At about 9.30am on Thursday the St Faith Wight Link car ferry suffered a fire on her bridge wind port side en route from Portsmouth to Fishbourne, Isle of Wight, U.K.
The fire was extinguished by the crew, and the 52 passengers were evacuated from the vessel, with no reported injuries.
The fire may have started in an air conditioning unit, operator Wight Link said.
Operations director Elwyn Dop told BBC News: “We had 13 crew members dealing with the incident. They are well exercised in their duties, and they used those skills to deal with the situation today. The passengers were looked after calmly in the lounge.”
The vessel came alongside the ferry terminal in Fishbourne and has now been moved to Portsmouth.
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The U.K. Coastguard, Cowes RNLI Lifeboat, Isle of Wight Fire Service and the Hampshire Police responded to the incident.
A Maritime & Coastguard Agency surveyor is now attending the vessel to carry out an investigation into the incident. The vessel will remain out of passenger service until repair work has been carried out.
