Fire on Alaska fishing boat extinguished

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JUNEAU, Alaska, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A fire aboard a commercial fishing boat off Alaska was extinguished early Wednesday after nearly 100 members of the crew were forced to abandon ship.

The Seattle-based Pacific Glacier suffered damage to the laundry room and galley, but no one was injured, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard said in a written statement that the cutter Alex Haley remained on the scene in the Bering Sea, about 136 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor.

The fire started Tuesday night. The skipper of the 253-foot fish processing ship ordered everyone except his firefighting crew to transfer to two other nearby fishing vessels.

The weather and seas at the time were fairly calm, which greatly assisted both the evacuation and firefighting efforts.