A fire in the engine broke out on one of Red Funnel’s Red Jet high-speed ferries on Sunday (May 2).

The high-speed ferry Red Jet three had just departed from is Town quay mooring with 39 people onboard.

The master reported to Solent coastguard that the fire alarm system had activated and needed assistant.

Fire crews from St Mary’s and Redbridge Hampshire fire and Rescue service dashed to attend the incident.

Solent coastguard also called out a lifeboat and its crew from Calshot on stand by to offer help.

The ships crew operated the CO2 on board fire fighting system to try and put out the fire.

An order to muster was issued to passenger by the captain. Lifejackets were issued to all onboard.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus boarded the vessel and inspected the engine room after the passengers has disembarked safely

Chief Executive James Fulford for Red Funnel said” The master of Red Jet three was just north of Calshot when the ships smoke detector system activated.

After a physical inspection was carried out by one of the crew the master attempted to clear the smoke using the ships onboard CO2 firefighting system.

Crews onboard issued lifejackets to passengers as a precaution. The vessel arrived back at Southampton under it’s own power and was met by fire crew.

An inspection was carried out by the fire service that enters the engine room wear Breathing apparatus.

The red Jet Three was taken out of service for a short time whilst Red funnel staff carried out repairs on a faulty inhibitor within exhaust system that had collapsed and caused a smoke to build up in the Starboard engine room.

The vessel has since been successfully repaired and checks by the Maritime and Coastguard agency have passed the vessel as fit for service.

He went on to say that Safety of our passengers and crew is paramount. All their crew is trained to deal with such incidents. onboard are trained