An explosion and a fire on Tuesday hit a Lithuanian ferry in the Baltic Sea with a massive rescue operation being underway, the Russian Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transportation (Rosmorrechflot) told Sputnik.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd October, 2018) An explosion and a fire on Tuesday hit a Lithuanian ferry in the Baltic Sea with a massive rescue operation being underway, the Russian Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transportation (Rosmorrechflot) told Sputnik.
"The explosion hit the engine room of the ferry under the Lithuanian flag, with 335 people on board including 37 crew members, in the Baltic Sea," Rosmorrechflot's spokesperson said, adding that the fire was extinguished by the ship's automatic firefighting system.
The spokesperson noted that eight vessels, including Russian and Lithuanian ones, and a helicopter were heading for the ferry. According to Rosmorrechflot, all the people were moved to a safe place on the ferry.
Andrei Permyakov, head of the marine rescue coordination center of Russia's Kaliningrad region, told Sputnik that the incident occurred 135 kilometers (about 84 miles) from the Russian city of Kaliningrad.
"The vessel cannot move and is adrift, other ships are concentrating in the area," Permyakov said.
Later the center confirmed that the fire had been extinguished with no people having been injured or killed in the incident. Now rescue teams are preparing evacuation of people from the ferry and towing the ship to the Lithuanian port city of Klaipeda.
Causes of the incident remain unknown.
The deadliest incident involving a ferry in the Baltic Sea occurred in 1994 when the MS Estonia ferry sank leaving 852 people dead.
