London: Earlier today a fire was reported on board the fishing vessel - stern trawler -Athena. The ship was stated to be some 230 miles south west of the Scilly Isles in the Irish Sea.

The Athena was built in 1992 at the Factorias Vulcano yard in Vigo, Spain. It is 105 metres long, 20 metres wide and has a gross tonnage of 7,805 tons. The vessel is owned by Ocean Group Faroe Ltd, classed by DNV and flies the Faeroe Islands flag.

There was another fire on board this ship in July 2007. That fire damage was repaired in Guangzhou, China. The intermediate survey after re-construction was completed on 22 March 2010.

The last time DNV was on board the vessel was on 15 October – 12 days before the fire. When today’s fire started there were no overdue or due class surveys and no condition of class related to the incident.

DNV is glad that none of the vessel’s crew is reported to be physically hurt and that the rescue operation seems to have been carried out in a professional manner.