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Stricken car carrier back ashore Stricken carrier heads to Belgium
(about 6 hours later)
A 55,000-tonne car carrier whose engines failed in gale force conditions off Cornwall has headed back to shore. A 55,000-tonne car transporter which lost power in gales off Cornwall is heading towards a Belgian port.
A Coastguard tug was sent to the aid of the Figaro and a tow line was attached only for the two vessels to be parted. 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.
But the Figaro's crew were then able to restart her engine and steer the boat, carrying about 2,500 cars, to the coast at Falmouth Bay under her own steam. 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 Harbour Authority was waiting until first light to see if there was a big enough berth for the Figaro at the bay. The engines were restarted and it is now heading for repairs at Zeebrugge.
If not, she will be put on a buoy at Falmouth Roads, a deep water creek in a sheltered part of the harbour. Tow line
Drifted towards lighthouse The ship sent out a distress call on Thursday afternoon after it lost power when the fire systems were triggered.
A spokesman for the Coastguard said the bay was "chock-a-block"" overnight with boats sheltering from the weather and it would have been to dangerous to attach the Figaro to a buoy in darkness. 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.
The Figaro was bound from Santander, in northern Spain, to Bristol, when she got into trouble on Thursday afternoon. There were 30 people aboard the carrier but nobody was injured. "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.
The coastguards received a call at about 1700 GMT saying the vessel had suffered main engine failure and was drifting in a south-western gale.The coastguards received a call at about 1700 GMT saying the vessel had suffered main engine failure and was drifting in a south-western gale.
At one stage she was just five miles from the Wolf Rock lighthouse, which is six miles from the Cornish coast.
Peter Bullard, of Falmouth Coastguard, said at the time: "She's quite a large car carrier - over 50,000 tonnes - so she is a problem once she starts drifting.
"The conditions are certainly bad, they're currently gale force to severe gale force winds.
"So certainly with a vessel of this type, where she presents a very high side towards the wind, her drift rate is very quick indeed.
"Our main concern was she was initially drifting directly towards Wolf Rock, which whilst it's an isolated pinnacle in the water, the law of averages suggest there could well be a problem."