All passengers and crewmembers from the 561-foot passenger/car ferry Caribbean Fantasy, which ignited earlier today, were safely disembarked from the ship and brought to San Juan’s Pier 6, according to the United States Coast Guard’s twitter account.
The fire on board the ship started in the morning hours while the Panamanian-flagged ship was some 1 mile off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
At the time of the incident there were 511 passengers and crew aboard the 1989-built ship, which was en route from the Dominican Republic.
Initial reports indicated a manifest of 512, however the vessel returned to port in the Dominican Republic to disembark one passenger earlier in its voyage.
The fire, which began in the engine room, spread to other compartments on board, which led to the entire ship’s evacuation.
Some three hours after the fire started, the Caribbean Fantasy ran aground half a nautical mile offshore of Punta Salinas.
The Coast Guard has established a 1,000-yard safety zone around the vessel.
There were no reports of sheening or pollution around the vessel at the time.
FOTOS- Desde helicóptero de FURA pilotos captan la emergencia que se sucitó en el ferry Caribbean Fantasy. pic.twitter.com/PCH38OWBI7
— Policía Puerto Rico (@PRPDNoticias) August 17, 2016
#BreakingNews @USCG & local rescue crews bring Caribbean Fantasy passengers ashore to San Juan’s Pier 6 #Ferryrescue pic.twitter.com/2JASiITi1S
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) August 17, 2016
World Maritime News Staff