FOG BLOG MARITIME LOG: FIRE ABOARD N.S. TO P.E.I. FERRY FORCES EVACUATIONS!

Fire forces evacuation of P.E.I.-N.S. ferry as fisherman, first responders rush to rescue No injuries reported; ferry service cancelled for remainder of day More than 200 people were safely evacuated from a ferry travelling from Nova Scotia to Prince Edward Island on Friday, after a fire broke out in the vessel's engine room.

The fire broke out on board MV Holiday Island around 11 a.m. AT, about an hour into its crossing from Caribou, N.S., to Wood Islands, P.E.I.

"Ship's crew and safety systems contained the fire," said Don Cormier, vice-president of Northumberland Ferries. "Captain took necessary precautions and dropped both anchors and directed the ship onto a soft shoal outside the harbour entrance to Wood Islands."

Cormier said there were no injuries to passengers or crew. The rest of Friday's crossings were cancelled because MV Holiday Island was blocking the path for the company's other vessel, MV Confederation.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating the fire. Myles MacDonald, an auxiliary Coast Guard member who also fishes crab and scallops out of Wood Islands, rushed to the scene in his boat when he heard the ferry had caught fire.

He pulled up alongside the Holiday Island as passengers hopped down an evacuation chute into a rubber dinghy. From there, they climbed onto his fishing boat.

"Everybody got along pretty good. It's a miracle," MacDonald said. MacDonald made two trips to shore carrying a total of 113 of the 225 people he was told were on board.

Other rescue vessels, including the Coast Guard and Joint Rescue Coordination Centre from Halifax, arrived to help transport the others. Their vehicles and luggage had to be left behind, though.

Virginia Clark-Druhan of Dartmouth was one of the passengers rescued.

"We were enjoying our trip and starting our vacation, looking forward to landing in P.E.I., and we started to smell the smoke," she said. "And when we stepped outside, we looked out. And when we looked out, there was a bunch of black smoke coming out of the engine room from the top of the smokestack."

She said the evacuation went well, with support from many different services.