A fire broke out at 02:30 hours this morning onboard the ferry Tenacia, which belongs to shipping line GNV and covers the Valencia-Palma route, when she was about 22 miles off Ibiza leaving the ship adrift. The 350 passengers and 61 crew members have been unharmed.
According to the Salvamento Marítimo air sea rescue service the fire was controlled during the night but at 10:00 a.m. it was still active and three firefighters from the Generalitat de Cataluña were flown by helicopter to the vessel to extinguish it.
Two other Catalan fire departments have been deployed to the area, where two rescue vessels and a Salvamento Marítimo tugboat, as well as several helicopters have also been deployed. All the passengers and the crew have remained on the ship, since the fire has not spread outside the engine area and there have been no personal injuries.
The ferry, which set sail at 22:30 hours from Valencia was scheduled dock in Palma at 05:15 hours, suffered the fire in an area of restricted access to the crew and it was the ship’s firefighters who responded at first instance to contain the fire. GNV has stated that the safety protocol was immediately put in place and the passengers were gathered at the established meeting points.
The ship also transports cars and trucks, and after mooring in Palma was scheduled to leave at 10:00 a.m for Barcelona. The Balearic emergency service 112 has pointed out that the shipping company has set up a phone number for the relatives of the occupants of the ship, the Italian telephone +390102094599. The 112 itself can also provide information.
The company announced at around 10 a.m. that plan is to take the ship back to Valencia, although Salvamento Marítimo said at the time that fire fighters were still battling the fire on the ship, which was about 52 miles from Mallorca and 22 off Ibiza.