Fire breaks out on US car carrier ship Honour

Image source, paulpp2/MarineTraffic

Image caption, The US vessel Honour was travelling to Baltimore from Southampton

A fire broke out on a car carrier ship in the English Channel earlier.

The blaze started aboard the US vessel Honour as it was travelling to Baltimore from Southampton.

The ship's cargo space has been sealed and its manoeuvrability has not been affected, a coastguard spokesman said.

It anchored for a while off the Isle of Wight and is currently en-route to Southampton Port where it is expected to be assessed on Friday evening.

Image source, Chris Downer

Image caption, The ship was assessed to determine whether it was safe for it to return to Southampton Port

UK Coastguard commander Andy Jenkins said the ship's 21 crew were "safe and well" and were still onboard the vessel.

A number of the cars being transported by the vessel were involved in the blaze, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service said.

It added the ship's "fixed fire-fighting systems" tackled the initial blaze, and that fire crews were being airlifted onboard with temperature and gas monitoring equipment to assess the damage.

UK Coastguard said it was monitoring the situation closely.

A pilot from Southampton Port and a Maritime and Coastguard Agency marine casualty officer were also sent to the vessel.