Nearly 100 people who were on board a vessel which caught fire have been rescued from life rafts.
The Athena, a factory fishing ship, had 111 people on board when the fire started 230 miles south west of the Isles of Scilly in the Atlantic.
A cargo vessel has rescued 98 crew members in the rafts. There are no reports of any injuries.
The fire is under control, but 13 parole were remaining on board to fight the blaze, its ship’s owners said. The Ship is owned by Shipping Company Thor based in the Fare Islands.
Coastguards at Falmouth in Cornwall, England were alerted to the fire just after 0600 Best today, which broke out while the vessel was sailing to its next fishing area.
The master of the vessel evacuated not essential crew to the life rafts after the blaze broke out the processing area of the ship.
He told coastguards the fire was going out but was not completely extinguished.
A spokesman for the Coastguards said “ We are co-ordinating a search and rescue mission, but it’s a long ay from either the UK or French coast.”.
Coastguards said that Five ships had responded to the emergency call and that the nearest, container ship VEGA, was at the scene and had recovered 98 people from 11 life rafts.
A falcon 50 fixed wing aircraft was also scrambled from a French airfield to provide a radio link between the rescuers scene and its co-ordinators.
A spokesman for the Royal Navy at Gumdrops in Cornwall said a Search and rescue helicopter had been scrambled and ewes being held on the Isles of Scilly for refuelling.
It could reach the ship, but it was at the helicopters maximum range, the base said.
On reaching the scene, the flight would have enough fuel to hover for about 20 minutes and pick up about 10 crew before needing to head straight back.
Another Rescue Helicopter was on standby and more were available id needed.
The closet land is believe to be Brest in Brittany, France.
The Fare Islands based Athena was built in 1992 and rebuilt in China this year after suffering another fire in 2007.
It is managed by the Shipping Company Thor has a maximum capacity of 125, according to the company’s website. The people on board include Russians, Chinese, Scandinavians and Peruvians.
