Fire Contained on Irish Ferries Vessel - Oscar Wilde
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Posted 21:58 GMT
At twenty four minutes past seven this evening, Falmouth Coastguard received a call from the crew of the ferry Oscar Wilde who reported that they had a fire in the engine room.
The ferry is operated by Irish Ferries and had been in Falmouth Docks for a refit departing Falmouth this afternoon with113 crew on board.
Falmouth Coastguard despatched the Coastguard tug Anglian Princess to the Oscar Wilde and requested the launch of the Falmouth and Lizard RNLI lifeboats to standby the vessel. Three tugs have also left Falmouth Docks to assist.
The MIRG fire fighting team is being airlifted to the vessel by helicopter to assist the crew in the handling of this fire incident on board the vessel. The fire is in the engine room and has been suppressed by the fire systems onboard. The crew are conducting boundary cooling.
James Instance, Duty Area Officer, Falmouth Coastguard said:
The master called us as soon as he was aware of the fire having anchored two miles south of the Falmouth pilot station.
We were then able to put into place procedures that we have tried and tested in routine exercises with MIRG fire fighting teams throughout the UK.
The fire appears to be contained at the moment.
The MAIB (Marine Accident Investigation Branch) have been informed.
For further details contact: The Maritime & Coastguard Agency Press Office 023 8032 9401