London: Crew members managed to put out a fire in the engine room of a cruise liner with 708 people aboard off the coast of southeast England early on Saturday, a British coastguard official said.
"They smothered the engine room and have managed to extinguish the fire," said the official in the seaport of Dover, where the coastguard is coordinating the rescue.
The cruise liner had caught fire off the coast of southeast England early Saturday morning, a British coastguard official had said.
He said a call from the ship came in at 0400 hrs (0300 GMT) and fire and rescue services scrambled to reach the vessel, adding that the liner is called The Calypso and is operated by Louis Cruise Lines.
The official said firefighters were now on board the cruise ship assessing the situation in the engine room.
"It's very unlikely we will evacuate," he said.
Sky TV said earlier that the liner was 16 miles off Eastbourne, a seaside town on the southeast English coast.
The nationalities of the passengers were not immediately known.
The ship's crew were fighting the fire, which had broken out in the engine room, and were understood to have brought it under control.
Search and rescue helicopters and ships were on the way and other vessels in the area were giving assistance.
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