Coastguard and lifeboat crews rushed to a fire on board a Stena Line ferry sailing to Belfast last night.
Emergency services were called to deal with the blaze aboard the ship which was sailing from Cairnryan on Monday night.
A fire had broken out in the engine room of the Superfast VIII before emergency crews were called to assist at about 9pm.
The ship had been due into Belfast at 9.45pm.
It was brought in with the assistance of tug boats and the fire was put out.
Coastguard teams from Bangor, Portaferry, Larne and Portmuck attended the fire.
Passengers were told to congregate in designated areas after an emergency was declared.
Speaking to the BBC passenger Chris Clotworthy said he had been journeying home to Northern Ireland from Glasgow, where he had been for his daughter's graduation.
He said that at about 9pm 'code words' were relayed over the intercom to the crew members who were on board at the time.
He said: "Obviously, all sorts of things went through one's mind.
"The boat did a complete 180 degree turn and looked to be heading back to Scotland, this was when it was level with Blackhead (in County Antrim). It then did another complete 180 and stopped."
He described the atmosphere onboard the vessel as being "relatively calm".
The Stena Superfast VIII is described by Stena as 'the largest, most luxurious ferry to Scotland' which operates 12 sailings per day on the Belfast to Cairnryan route.
Its crossing time us usually 2 hours 15 minutes.
