Evacuation of adrift ferry in Sweden has stopped, the ship continues to sail

Swedish and Finnish rescue services evacuated an unknown number of people from a ferry that had burst tonight. The elderly and children were the first to be disembarked from the ship, which ran out of power off the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. No one was hurt.

Due to the power failure, the anchor could no longer be sunk. The ferry from the Stena Lina shipping company therefore drifted towards Gotland, but was able to restart one of the engines later in the evening. The evacuation was then canceled and the ferry did not have to be towed.

The ferry is now on its own way to the town of Nynäshamn in southern Sweden and will arrive this evening, Swedish media report.

The ferry was en route from Latvia to Sweden when a fire broke out on a car deck. The fire reportedly broke out in a refrigerated truck. What caused this is under investigation.

There were 299 people on board, including 241 passengers. Some were picked up by helicopters, according to Swedish media. Evacuations have been made more difficult by strong winds at sea, according to the Swedish coastguard.

As a precaution, seven ships and a helicopter were sent to the ferry. Passengers gathered on the upper deck, can be seen in images. The fire was extinguished by the crew around 4 p.m.