A PASSENGER ferry, operated by the same company which operates the Pembroke Dock to Rosslare service, has been towed into Calais after a fire broke out in the engine room.

Passengers are now disembarking after the ferry safely docked, marine authorities have confirmed.

The blaze started on Friday night and was contained, according operator Irish Ferries.

It was sailing from Dover to Calais and had 94 passengers and 89 crew on board. There were no reports of any injuries.

Three lifeboats from Dover, Ramsgate and Dungeness were launched as well as a French salvage tug.

Those booked on Isle of Innisfree sailings in the near future will be transferred to alternative sailings, Irish Ferries said.

The firm has apologised to all of its passengers for the disruption to their journeys.

A statement from the firm said: “Crews train regularly to deal with incidents at sea, and the company has put its training into action and the fire has been extinguished.”

Irish Ferries later added it will launch a “full investigation into the incident in conjunction with the relevant authorities”.

HM Coastguard said: “The vessel has confirmed that the fire has been extinguished but [it had experienced] technical issues.”

There was a similar incident in Pembrokeshire on another Irish Ferries vessel in 2008.

On July 30 of that year, a fire broke out on board the Isle of Inishmore at Pembroke Dock at approximately 02.30am, in a thermal oil boiler located adjacent to the engine room of the vessel.

The function of this boiler is to preheat the fuel oil prior to its use in the ship’s main engines.

The ship was getting ready to sail for Rosslare at 02:45am, with some 227 passengers and 89 crew on board.

All passengers and crew were put on standby.

At 4:20am the fire was brought under control with nobody having been injured.

On that day, the 02:45am Pembroke to Rosslare and the 08:45am Rosslare to Pembroke crossings were both cancelled as a result.

Last week there was no Fishguard-to-Rosslare ferry link following another engine room fire on the Stena Europe.

On February 11, a fire on board the vessel broke out as it approached Fishguard, which sparked a huge multi-agency response.

The 88 passengers on board were issued with lifejackets as a precautionary measure, but all disembarked safely after the vessel docked.

Stena Line said that immediate investigations would be carried out into the cause of the fire.

A Stena Line spokesman said at the time: “The investigation is ongoing, but initial indications identified a fuel pipe failure on one of the vessel’s main engines.

“The overall assessment continues, in cooperation and collaboration with the vessel’s Classification Society and all relevant regulatory authorities.

“The vessel was scheduled to go to dry dock after Fishguard for planned maintenance works, but this has been slightly delayed due to recent events.

“However, the authorities have now approved the vessel to continue sailing and it will proceed to dry dock to complete scheduled maintenance and any repairs, before it safely returns to the route.

“We are sorry for the ongoing inconvenience this causes and will provide further details to our customers as soon as we can.”