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Lorry fire pointed to as cause of ferry blaze

Other News Materials 10 October 2010 01:37 (UTC +04:00)
A fire on a lorry in the hold of the Lithuanian ferry Lisco Gloria was seen as the possible cause of the blaze on the vessel, officials said Saturday evening, dpa reported.
Lorry fire pointed to as cause of ferry blaze

A fire on a lorry in the hold of the Lithuanian ferry Lisco Gloria was seen as the possible cause of the blaze on the vessel, officials said Saturday evening, dpa reported.

Joachim Gutt, head of the crisis team of the Interior Ministry of the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, told North German broadcaster NDR that a witness reported a fire on a lorry before the explosion that occurred on the ship.

A crew member noticed the smoke coming from the lorry while making an inspection round and sought to put the fire himself, Gutt said.

When the attempt to extinguish the fire failed, the crew member informed the ship's captain.

The proximity of the initial fire to the the lorry's fuel tank could also explain the explosion which set the ferry ablaze, he said.

Gutt's account came after a dramatic day in which all 249 people on board the ferry were rescued following the blaze which broke out as the vessel was sailing from the German city of Kiel to Klaipeda in Lithuania.

Earlier, officials had ruled out an attack as the cause of the explosion.

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