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摘要

A fire on board any vessel is one of the most difficult and terrifying events that any seafarer may have to deal with, but it's usually the passenger ships and ferries that make the headlines. Most recently, at the turn of the year the Ro-Ro ferry Norman Atlantic on its way from Patras in Greece to Ancona in Italy with 475 aboard suffered a fire 35 miles north of Corfu resulting in the reported loss of at least eight lives. The logistics of firefighting onboard a passenger vessel with numerous decks and spaces would be daunting for an experienced well-equipped fire brigade, but when a vessel is at sea, there is no back-up, no fire service to call. There is just the ships crew and the firefighting equipment they have to hand... It is a frightening prospect.