North Sea ferry blaze: Two arrested as six people airlifted to hospital Two staff and four passengers had to be winched off the ferry and taken to hospital by helicopter after inhaling smoke when the fire broke out 30 miles from land last night. A second man has been arrested for fighting following the blaze. The ferry then returned to Newcastle, where it had set off from heading to Amsterdam carrying 946 passengers and 127 crew members. The 26-year-old suspect was detained by crew members and the remaining passengers were kept on board until late this morning while police carried out investigations and questioning. Passenger Steven Basford said: "We were in our room at about 10.40pm last night when they raised the general fire or emergency alarm with seven high pitched siren noises," he said. We were told to evacuate outside the ship and when we got outside they asked us to converge around the lifeboats. The fire was on our floor but on the other side of the ship. When we climbed up to the communal area we could see the smoke. It wasn't thick but it was definitely noticeable. People were generally pretty calm. Obviously people had had a lot to drink. It's a bit of a party boat. Two big blokes started brawling. Following the incident a spokeswoman for DFDS Seaways, which operates the ship, said: "Fifteen passengers and eight crew members are reported to have suffered from smoke-related injuries."