The blaze was discovered late last night as the 31,800-gt King Seaways (built 1987) was 30 miles off the coast of the UK in the North Sea.
An emergency muster of the 946 passengers and 127 crew on the vessel was ordered but it was not necessary to take to the lifeboats.
Four passengers and two crew members suffering from smoke inhalation were evacuated from the King Seaways by air-sea rescue helicopters.
But
