Blazing Fishing Boat Adrift In Lough

A Kilkeel-based fishing boat is on fire in Belfast Lough.

Black smoke was seen pouring from the vessel, which was initially midway between Holywood and Whiteabbey. The Coastguard in Bangor was this afternoon dealing with the incident after an ambulance rapid response unit and ambulances dispatched to Belfast Docks took the casualties to hospital.

Late this afternoon, part of the coastal path at Cultra in Co Down has been closed by police over fears that gas canisters onboard the now drifting fishing boat could explode.

The Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club has also been evacuated as a 300 metre exclusion zone has been put in place around the vessel because of large quantity of diesel and three gas canisters onboard.

Earlier, all five crew members took to the water and had to be rescued after their vessel went on fire.

An eyewitness was driving on the Co Antrim side of Belfast Lough and saw the black smoke pouring from the vessel.

"As a former firefighter, I recognised at once that the boat was in serious trouble, as the thick black smoke indicated it to be well alight.

"On calling the emergency services, it turned out that the alert had just been raised and that the Coastguard at Bangor was involved in the incident," he said.

According to another eye witness - who contacted UTV - the boat appeared to be going round in circles with its engine running.

The witness said the crew was picked up by a nearby vessel, the Amity, which was nearby.

It is understood other boats came out to help and waited some distance from it before the arrival of a lifeboat.

The RNLI Bangor Inshore Lifeboat is now keeping the vessel under observation and passing updates to the Coastguard and the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service which has specially trained crews to operate sea-going fire tenders.

Firefighters are however keeping a safe distance as 300 litres of diesel and three now 'explosive' gas canisters are on board.

Coastguard spokesman Mark Clark said: "It's dangerous for us to get people on board, so we are waiting for the fire to burn out."

He named the vessel concerned as the Co Down-based Bellatrix, and said: "We need to get those canisters off the boat but the fire needs to be damped down first," he said.

All the crew members have been taken to Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, but their conditions are not yet known.

(BMcC/GK)