Crew saved from burning ship in Atlantic

Some 111 people were rescued earlier from life rafts close to their ship in the Atlantic Ocean as Falmouth coastguard co-ordinated an air and sea rescue mission.

The Athena, a factory fishing vessel owned by shipping company Thor, suffered a similar incident in 2007 according to ShipSpotting.com.

A coastguard spokesman said: “Falmouth coastguard was contacted by the French MRC. We assume they received a distress call from the Athena, by a satellite distress system.

“The fishing vessel is 89 metres in length and is a factory fishing vessel, with a crew of 111 people, of mixed nationalities.

“We are co-ordinating a search and rescue mission, but it’s a long way from either the UK or French coast.

“We put out a broadcast action, which means we sent out a message to any ships in the area that could assist.

“We have got some ships that have responded and are proceeding to the area. We’ve got three commercial vessels proceeding with one, a cargo ship, already there.

“There are 81 persons in life rafts with 30 people remaining on the ship fighting the fire. The cargo ship is helping to offload people in the life rafts.

“We believe the situation is under control. The fire is still burning, but less than it was.”

Major fire

Falmouth coastguard was alerted just after 6am this morning and told there was a major fire on board the Athena.

The port side processing area of the ship was on fire, but it appeared to be coming under control.

A French airfield scrambled a Falcon 50 fixed wing aircraft in order to provide communications links and the RAF sent a helicopter from RNAS Culdrose off the Cornish coast, which was refuelled in the Scillies.

The coastguard said any rescue helicopter from either the French or British coastline would only have 20 minutes of hover time above the scene of the fire, because the location, in the Atlantic, is so far away from either side of the Channel. The aircraft would need to turn back to be refuelled after the 20 minutes.

Five ships responded to a mayday emergency call by Falmouth coastguard. The Vega, the nearest of the five vessels was at the Athena attempting to take on board the crew who were forced to abandon ship.

Chinese, Russian, Peruvian and Scandinavian personnel were among those aboard the Athena when the fire started. The Royal Navy also confirmed it has helicopter crews on standby.

Senior Pilot of 771 Naval Air Squadron, Lieutenant Commander Martin Shepherd, said: “This is a challenging rescue and the vessel is at the maximum operating distance of our aircraft.

“The squadron has already launched one aircraft and has other aircraft standing by to join the rescue if required.”

The Navy said casualties could be airlifted to either the UK or France. The shipping company Thor issued a statement saying all the crew were in no immediate danger.

The statement said: “Around 6am this morning a fire broke out on board Athena while she was sailing to her next fishing area.

“The fire appears to have started in packing material store on the port side of the ship.

“The fire safety crew on board have remained on board to try to contain the situation.

“All but the 13 firefighting crew have abandoned the ship, and all are safe.

“The firefighting crew are safe and are in no immediate danger.”