A fire that broke out aboard a commercial vessel off the coast of Limassol on Thursday was extinguished, and all crew members are safe, authorities said.

In a statement, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (Jrcc) said that shortly before noon it received a distress signal from the ‘Afadja’ – a commercial vessel flying the Somalia flag with 12 crew on board.

A fire had broken out in the ship’s engine room.

At the time the ship was located at approximately eight nautical miles off Cape Gata, the southeastern cape of the Akrotiri peninsula.

The Jrcc activated a search-and-rescue operation, with several vessels and a helicopter dispatched to the area.

The fire on board was extinguished with the assistance of the EDT Aether tugboat and coast guard ships.

The vessel was then towed to a location in the bay of Limassol.

All crew members were safe.