100 crew hauled to safety from burning ship

Nearly 100 people who were on board a ship that caught fire in the Atlantic have been rescued from life rafts.

The Athena, a factory fishing ship, had 111 people on board when the fire started 230 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly. A cargo vessel rescued 98 crew in the rafts. There were no injuries.

The fire was under control last night, but 13 people remained on board to tackle it, the ship's owner said.

Coastguards in Falmouth, Cornwall, who co-ordinated the rescue operation, were alerted to the fire at about 6am yesterday.

Coastguards said it was "very fortunate" that no-one was injured in the fire, or while the crew were being moved to and from the rafts.

The crew on board included Chinese, Russians, Peruvians and Scandinavians.

A spokesman for the ship's owner said: "The fire appears to have started in packing material."