Second channel fire
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• The second freight ferry fire in a week broke out last Friday on P&O's cross-Channel European Trader.
The vessel was sailing from Zeebrugge to Dover carrying 50 lorries and 44 drivers when a major fire broke out in the engine room.
The fire was extinguished within minutes, but because of damage to the engine, the vessel was towed to Dunkerque. P&O and the Department of Transport have launched investigations.
Hauliers have been praised for their conduct throughout both incidents. During Sealink's Sea Freight Freeway ferry blaze last week, lorry drivers made tea and soup on primus stoves for the captain and his crew.
They also rasied £250 for the families of the fourth engineer, Philip Lewis, who was killed, and third engineer, Peter Donnelly, who was severely_burned.
LJ Sealink has launched a new ferry called the Nord Pas De Calais, which sails from Dover western docks to Calais in two hours.
It has accommodation for rail-freight on the lower deck and road freight on the upper deck: both levels can be loaded/unloaded simultaneously.