The evacuation of the drifting ferry stopped in Sweden, and the ship sailed

The Swedish and Finnish emergency services have evacuated an unknown number of people on a ferry that was leaving this evening. The elderly and children were the first to be disembarked from the ship, which ran out of power from the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. No one is hurt.

Due to a power outage, the anchor can no longer be cast. So the Stena Lina freight company’s ferry drifted toward Gotland, but was able to get one of the engines running again later in the evening. The evacuation was later called off and the ferry had to be withdrawn.

Swedish media reported that the ferry is now on its way under its own authority to the city of Nynashamn in southern Sweden and will arrive tonight.

The ferry was on its way from Latvia to Sweden when a fire broke out on the roof of a car. It is believed that the fire started in a refrigerated truck. What caused this to happen is under investigation.

There were 299 passengers on board, including 241 passengers. Swedish media reported that some of them were picked up by helicopters. The Swedish Coast Guard said evacuations were made more difficult by high winds at sea.

As a precaution, seven ships and a helicopter were sent to the ferry. Passengers assembled on the upper deck can be seen on the photos. The fire was put out by the crew at around 4:00 p.m.