No one injured in passenger ferry blaze

No injuries have been reported aboard a passenger ferry after a fire broke out while it was en route from Germany to Sweden with 237 people on board.

Swedish coastguard officials have confirmed that the ferry was heading to Sweden, not towards Germany as previously reported.

They say the captain of the Sassnitz has told them via radio that the fire broke out just before 8pm (1800 GMT) in the engine room as it made its way from the German port of the same name to the Swedish city of Trelleborg.

Coastguard spokesman Peter Lindquist says: "Nobody has been injured as far as we know and no decision has been made to evacuate them.

"We are standing by awaiting word from the captain that the fire is totally extinguished. So far, he thinks it is under control."

Other ships in the area had been alerted and several rescue crews were mobilised, the Swedish news agency TT reported.

The ferry was in the Baltic Sea, about 25 nautical miles south of Trelleborg, a city on the southern tip of Sweden.