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A FAROESE factory trawler which caught fire off the Scilly Islands last year with more than 100 people on board has been badly damaged in another blaze - this time at its home base. It is the third big fire in the trawler's history.
The 345 foot long Athena, owned by the Thor Fishing Company, was berthed at Runavik in the Faroe Islands, when a loud explosion was heard and she caught fire. The blaze at the weekend became so intense that people living in the area had to be evacuated from their homes. Thick smoke then forced the closure of a school while coastguard vessels with a water canon tried to put out the blaze. The vessel was also thought to have had several tons of ammonia on board.
Last October, most of the 100-strong crew were rescued from lifeboats after the ship they were on caught fire 230 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly. A skeleton crew managed to bring the outbreak under control, but not before most of the people on board had abandoned ship. There were no reports of injuries among the crew, which included Chinese, Russian, Peruvian and Scandinavian personnel.
Those in lifeboats were picked up by passing ships who diverted from their normal course to go the Athena's aid. A spokesman for Falmouth coastguard, which co-ordinated the rescue, said at the time: "We've been very fortunate in this case that no one was injured in the initial fire, or moving the crew to and from the life rafts."
The Athena was built in 1992 but needed refitting in China earlier this year after suffering an even earlier fire, according to a report in Lloyd's List. The ship, which flies under the Faroese flag, has a maximum capacity of 125 crew and a top speed of 14.5 knots. It is not yet known if she can be repaired again.
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