Bus catches fire on car deck of Tallink's Megastar ferry

TALLINN - A fire broke out in a bus on the car deck of the Tallink passenger ship Megastar, which was docked at the Helsinki West Terminal, on Thursday night, causing passengers to be evacuated, the Finnish news agency STT reports.

Marika Nöjd, communications manager at Tallink Silja Oy, told STT that no one was injured in the fire. According to Nöjd, about 300 passengers were evacuated from the ship.

"As far as I know, the crew has not been evacuated. The passengers have been let off and those who would have stayed overnight have left the ship," Nöjd said.

She said the fire was discovered in a bus on the Megastar's car deck shortly after midnight when the ship arrived at the West Terminal. According to Nöjd, extinguishing work was quickly started using the ship's sprinkler system and the crew's own rescue personnel. In addition, the Helsinki fire department was also involved in the rescue work.

The rescue service received a call about the fire at 0:30 a.m. The rescue service announced shortly after 1 a.m. that the fire that broke out in a bus on the ship's car deck did not pose an immediate threat of spread.

According to Nöjd, the fire only caused damage to the bus.

"According to current information, there is no damage to the ship or other vehicles," she said at 3 a.m.

Nöjd said then that Megastar should be able to depart as scheduled at 7:30 a.m. The vessel operates between Helsinki and Tallinn.