Crews tackle fire on board cargo ship in Southampton

The fire started in the hold of the cargo ship which was in dry dock

A scrap metal fire on-board a 50,000-tonne cargo ship continued burning for more than 24 hours.

More than 60 firefighters tackled the flames at the height of the blaze after being called to Western Docks in Southampton at 14:00 BST on Friday.

The Maltese-registered bulk carrier, Sirina, was sitting alongside the dock when the fire broke out in the hold containing scrap metal.

No-one was hurt. Firefighters left the scene early on Saturday afternoon.

Residents in nearby Millbrook and Marchwood were advised to keep windows closed due to the amount of smoke in the air.

Firefighters worked through the night to bring the blaze under control

Group manager Dan Tasker, of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, said when crews first arrived smoke was billowing from one of the ship's holds containing about 10,000 tonnes of scrap metal.

"It was very quickly apparent to us that the fire was about 16 metres down into the scrap metal itself," he said.

"There was no way we were going to be able to put that fire out until we'd taken a lot of that metal out so we could access the scene of the fire."

Mr Tasker added that firefighters had worked in "really difficult conditions" as crews tried to remove scrap metal "at the same rate we were putting water in".