Shipboard fires still threaten passengers

Captains,

Marine safety specialists in the USCG watched the most recent passenger vessel fire with great interest just days after noting the 30th anniversary of the loss of the C/S Prinsendam due to a fire. Fortunately in both cases, the passengers and crew were all saved.

RADM W

Fire-Hit Ferry In Baltic Sea 'Is Now Safe'

8:36am UK, Monday October 11, 2010

Richard Williams, Sky News Online

A 650ft ferry set on fire in the Baltic Sea by an explosion on its upper decks is no longer at risk of sinking, officials say.

The ferry was anchored off the southern tip of the Danish island Langeland

Hundreds of passengers were rescued as firefighting ships sprayed the Lisco Gloria with water to keep it from breaking apart and spilling some 170 tons of fuel.

But Dirk Reichenbach, spokeswoman for Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies, said the blaze was now under control.

The 249 people aboard the vessel were collected by six ships, with three taken to hospitals by helicopter for treatment and another 28 suffering minor injuries.

The Lithuanian-flagged ferry was traveling from the German port of Kiel to Klaipeda.

40 ships icebound in the Baltic Sea

Captains,

Shipping goes on in the Baltic despite severe winter conditions. A fleet of Swedish icebreakers go to the rescue when vessels get stuck. US and Canada may have to develop this kind of capacity some day if trade routes and energy exploration move into the Arctic.

RDML W

(CNN) -- Thirty to 40 ships -- including several passenger ships -- were stuck Thursday in ice off the coast of Sweden, said a spokesman for the Maritime Search and Rescue Center in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The area of the Baltic Sea worst hit by the ice were the waters bounded by mainland Sweden, the Stockholm archipelago and the Finnish island of Aland, said Tommy Gardebring, press officer with the Swedish Maritime Administration.

The center identified one of the passenger ships as the Amorella, with 753 passengers and 190 crew members.