A fire broke out on a Greek-flagged cargo ship as it sailed north of the Cycladic island of Mykonos this morning, prompting a large-scale firefighting and rescue operation.

All 29 people on board the Blue Carrier 2, 28 crew members and a lorry driver travelling as a passenger, were taken off the vessel safely and are in good health. Shortly after 11.20am, it was confirmed that they had boarded a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel and were being taken to the neighbouring island of Tinos.

In a statement, the ship’s operator, Attica Group, said the fire broke out at 8.57am while the vessel was in the waters north of Mykonos and east of Andros, carrying out its scheduled route. The latest reports indicate that it started in a lorry parked in the ship’s number 4 garage. The vessel was carrying 166 lorries and 29 cars.

The company said the crew immediately activated the ship’s safety procedures to tackle the blaze using onboard equipment and alerted the relevant authorities. An organised evacuation was then carried out, again using the ship’s own means, in line with procedures designed to protect those on board.

Four Coast Guard patrol boats and a Coast Guard patrol vessel are at the scene, alongside two fast fire boats from the Hellenic Fire Service, dispatched from Syros and Lavrio, a firefighting ship, two tugs, private boats and passing vessels. The salvage tug Aigaion Pelagos, a vessel of around 70 metres with both firefighting and rescue capabilities, has also set out for the area from Piraeus.

A team from the Coast Guard’s Underwater Missions Unit is also on its way to support the operation.

Northerly winds of force 4 on the Beaufort scale are blowing in the area.

Built in 1997, the Blue Carrier 2 is a roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) cargo ship measuring about 162.5 metres in length, with a gross tonnage of 23,986.