All 62 passengers safe after engine room fire on Singapore ferry
Written by Nick Blenkey
MPA posted this image on is Facebook page showing vessels involved in the incident
The Maritime and Port of Authority of Singapore (MPA) said Saturday that all 62 passengers rescued from a ferry hit by an engine room fire had arrived safely in Batam.
The incident began at 12.30 p.m. local time on May 5 when MPA was alerted that there was a fire in the engine room of a Singapore-registered passenger ferry Queen Star 2 off Kusu Island. The ferry, one of 16 operated by Singapore’s largest ferry operator, Sindo Ferry, was en route from Singapore to Batam when the incident happened.
The MPA, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), and Police Coast Guard (PCG) immediately deployed vessels to provide assistance. with MPA also deploying its hybrid diesel-electric aluminum catamaran patrol vessel MPA Guardian and a tug boat.
The Queen Star 2‘s six crewmembers had extinguished the engine room fire by the time responders arrived and the passengers, including Singaporeans, Malaysians and Indonesians, were safely transferred to another ferry, Merbau Era, which then took them to Batam
