No one was injured after a fire broke out on the ferry between Nova Scotia and PEI late Friday morning.
In a release, Northumberland Ferries Limited vice president Don Cormier said the incident occurred while the MV Holiday Island was on a scheduled 10 a.m. trip from Caribou, NS, to Wood Islands, PEI
Shortly after 11 a.m., as it approached the Wood Islands, a fire broke out in the ship’s engine room, Cormier said.
“The ship’s crew and safety systems brought the fire under control. The captain took the necessary precautions and dropped both anchors and steered the vessel into a soft shoal outside the entrance to Wood Islands Harbor,” he said, adding that there were no reports of injuries to customers or crew.
Please note that all remaining Northumberland Ferries departures have been canceled for Friday 22nd July due to an emergency with the MV Holiday Island. We are currently evacuating passengers and crew safely and there are no known injuries. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.
— Northumberland Ferries (@PEIFerries) July 22, 2022
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In the announcement, issued just after 1 p.m., Cormier said the company was suspending the rest of the ferry crossings for the day “out of an abundance of caution and to focus on getting passengers ashore safely.”
“We apologize for the inconvenience to our customers and our focus at this time is the safety of our passengers, ensuring our passengers are safely evacuated ashore and the safety of our crew,” he said.
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In a tweet shortly before noon, PEI RCMP said officers were assisting with an “incident at sea near the Wood Island Ferry Terminal” and said the terminal was currently closed. He asked members of the public to avoid the area.
200 people were saved
In a series of tweets, the Halifax Joint Rescue Coordination Center said it responded to a distress call at 11:17 a.m., indicating that Holiday Island had “suffered an engine room fire and subsequently grounded.”
It said search and rescue aircraft from 14 Wing Greenwood, as well as Canadian Coast Guard vessels, responded to the scene and safely disembarked 182 passengers and 18 crew members. Seven local firefighters remain on board to battle the blaze.
A search and rescue aircraft from 14 Wing Greenwood and Canadian Coast Guard vessels were on the scene and safely disembarked 182 passengers. 18 crew and 7 local firefighters remain on board to fight the fire.
— HfxJRCC_CCCOS (@hfxjrcc) July 22, 2022
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“Local fire, police and paramedics are on the scene,” the JRCC said at 1:15 p.m. “As all passengers have been brought ashore, local authorities and ferry operators are responsible for any updates.”
Shawn McLaughlin, a Nova Scotian who had spent the week traveling on PEI, showed up at the Wood Islands terminal to take the ferry home shortly after 11 a.m.
“When we pulled up to the terminal to check in for our booking you could see very heavy black and brown smoke which was obviously coming from the ferry,” he said.
McLaughlin said the ferry appeared to be coming to dock at the time.
“The guy at the terminal said things didn’t look good and we should be ready to turn around and leave,” he said.
From the parking lot, McLaughlin reported seeing personnel unloading lifeboats and inflating the emergency chute to get passengers off the boat. He has since left to try his luck on the Confederate Bridge.
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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