A ferry carrying ~200 passengers and crew caught fire and was intentionally grounded Friday morning, July 22, during a crossing from Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown, Canada).
Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Halifax revealed it had received a distress call at 11:17 a.m. local time indicating that Northumberland Ferry Holiday Island had been experiencing a fire in the engine room and had subsequently run aground.
A search and rescue aircraft from 14 Wing Greenwood & Canadian Coast Guard ships arrived on the accident scene and safely disembarked all 182 passengers. 18 crew members and 7 local firefighters remained onboard to fight the fire. As of mid-afternoon crews were continuing to fight the fire.
No injuries have been reported.
A statement from Northumberland Ferries confirmed that MV Holiday Island had experienced an engine room fire and had been intentionally grounded just after 11 am during a scheduled 10 am crossing from Caribou NS to Prince Edward Island (Wood Islands).
According to Don Cormier (Northumberland Ferries' Vice President), the ship’s crew and safety systems had contained the fire. The Captain had taken necessary precautions, dropped both anchors, and directed the vessel onto a soft shoal outside the harbor entrance to Wood Islands.
The accident comes after Northumberland Ferries on Thursday, July 21, tweeted that MV Holiday Island was experiencing unspecified technical issues that had nearly canceled a couple of sailings from Caribou.