Hundreds stranded after ferry engines fail
A FERRY with around 300 people on board was stranded in the Baltic Sea after the ship experienced engine failure, the Danish operator said.
No injuries were reported and an evacuation was not immediately necessary. The breakdown aboard the
produced smoke, which triggered the ship’s fire extinguishing system in the engine room, Copenhagen-based DFDS Seaways said.
The vessel was in international waters off Kaliningrad, Russia’s Baltic Sea exclave between Poland and Lithuania.
“We are talking about a malfunction in the engine room that caused a lot of smoke,” DFDS spokesman Gert Jakobsen said.
“Right now we are inspecting the engine room to find out whether the ship can sail on its own or needs to be tugged.”
Passengers had assembled at muster stations in preparation for a possible evacuation, but the “situation is under control”.
The ferry, which also had cars and trucks on board, was travelling between the ports of Kiel, Germany, and Klaipeda, Lithuania.
“On these kinds of crossings we have people from Germany, the Baltic countries and Russia. We cannot say now who was onboard,” Mr Jakobsen said.
The ship is about 85 kilometres (50 miles) from Klaipeda.
Lithuania’s navy said one of its helicopters and three navy vessels were sent to the site in case an evacuation was necessary.