A P&O ferry carrying up to 410 passengers has gone adrift in the Irish sea after a suspected ‘mechanical issue.’
The European Causeway vessel which operates between Larne and Cairnryan is around five miles off Larne Harbour after leaving Cairnryan at 12:00 pm this afternoon.
It is currently unknown exactly how many passengers are on board, but after not arriving on schedule at 2:00 pm the RNI launched a lifeboat to investigate its whereabouts.
The ferry had reportedly failed a safety inspection at the end of March 2022, but despite this, it had been cleared for travel just two weeks ago.
READ MORE: P&O Ferries pause all services for next few days as 800 redundancies announced
A spokesperson for P&O said: "Due to a mechanical issue with the Causeway in the Irish Sea, tugs from Larne and Belfast were deployed to guide it back to port.
"Once the ship is back in Port a full inspection will take place."
Its automatic identification system (AIS) says it is currently Not Under Command - so the ferry essentially lost power at some point on its 2-hour journey.
This latest incident comes after the ferry company made headlines after illegally firing nearly 800 staff members without notice over a Zoom call.
According to reports, they replaced every member of staff immediately with foreign workers who agreed to work for much less pay.
P&O's Ferries boss Peter Hebblethwaite admitted that what they did was illegal in testimony to MPs, and said employees were replaced with cheaper €6.52-an-hour foreign agency workers.
Some crew members admitted to earning just €886 a month for a 40-hour week – which equals just barely €5.30 an hour.
Unions have since been calling for Mr. Hebblethwaite’s resignation while some have been calling for jail time over the sacking of workers.
Get breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter.
