FIRE CONTAINED ON IRISH FERRIES VESSEL - OSCAR WILDE

The fire was discovered 40 minutes out to sea after the vessel departed from the A&P Shipyard at Falmouth, Cornwall in the UK where it had been in dry dock undergoing its annual overhaul.

The ship anchored two miles from port and the crew managed to suppress the fire in the ship’s generator room at around 7.20pm yesterday. All 113 crew were accounted for and uninjured.

The vessel was sailing to Ireland to resume services on the Rosslare to Cherbourg route this afternoon and there were no passengers on board at the time.

The cause of the fire is not yet known and Britain’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch is investigating.

A spokesman for Irish Ferries told The Irish Times  all sailings on the Rosslare to Cherbourg route will be cancelled until Tuesday at the earliest.

Irish Ferries said it is contacting all passengers with reservations on these sailings and further schedule updates will be made known as they become available. Irish Ferries has three other vessels operating between Ireland and Britain however the Oscar Wilde is the company’s sole vessel on the Ireland-France route.

The spokesman said investigators will examine “how the fire arose, what damage was done and how quickly they can get the ship back into service.”

He said he was not anticipating any knock-on effect for the crew. “The ship will come back into service; we will need the crew. I can’t envisage any focus being placed on them at this particular stage,” he said.

The Oscar Wilde  is currently anchored in Falmouth Port having been towed back by tugs this morning.

The 31,914 tonnes vessel was purchased by Irish Ferries in 2007 and has been operating the Rosslare to Cherbourg routes since November of that year.