Stricken carrier heads to Belgium

Power was shut down when fire extinguishers were triggered

A 55,000-tonne car transporter which lost power in gales off Cornwall is heading towards a Belgian port.

The Figaro had been floating in a gale without power five miles from the Wolf Rock lighthouse near the Cornish coast with 30 crew on board.

The ship's fire extinguishers had been set off by a huge wave and all power on board was automatically closed down, said the owners.

The engines were restarted and it is now heading for repairs at Zeebrugge.

Tow line

The ship sent out a distress call on Thursday afternoon after it lost power when the fire systems were triggered.

Cecilia Kolga, head of corporate communications for the ship's owners, Wallenius Lines, based in Sweden, said: "As far as I know, it is bad weather that has caused the problem.

"I think they hit a wave so hard that the CO2 system was released in the engine room, which caused the engines to stop."

Coastguards said it was unable to drop anchor because all power had been lost to the capstans which operate the release mechanism.

A Coastguard tug earlier attached a tow line to the ship only for the two vessels to become separated.

The crew later restarted her engine and steered the boat, carrying about 2,500 cars, to the coast at Falmouth Bay.

But the harbourmaster was concerned about the safety of a large number of other boats sheltering in Falmouth if the Figaro had been allowed to enter.

That led to a decision on Friday morning to take her to Zeebrugge for repairs to the self-activating fire system.

A Coastguard spokesman said the bay was "chock-a-block" overnight with boats sheltering from the weather and it would have been too dangerous to attach the Figaro to a buoy in darkness.

The Figaro was bound from Santander, in northern Spain, to Bristol, when she got into trouble.