Fire breaks out onboard Maersk container vessel off Liberia

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -A fire broke out onboard a Maersk container vessel off the coast of Liberia on Wednesday and the crew was still battling to put out the flames a day later, the Danish shipping group said on Thursday.

"The crew of the Marie Maersk detected smoke coming from containers onboard the vessel en route from Rotterdam, The Netherlands to Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia," Maersk said.

The crew was safe while it attempted to keep the situation under control. Two tugboats with firefighting equipment reached the ship late on Wednesday, Maersk said.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, writing by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik)