VIDEO: Minister visits stricken ferry site
 |
| Transport minister, Tom Harris, at the stricken ferry site |
Click here for the video on our national news video feed.
Transport minister, Tom Harris, has made an impromptu visit to the stricken cargo ferry scene off the Blackpool coast.
The minister had been in the resort to announce an £85million Government investment in the tramway network.
A special bus ferried the minister, MPs, councillors and other interested parties to the scene of the ferry which remains tilted on its side after running aground near the Norbreck Castle Hotel, near Cleveleys.
The minister praised members of the emergency services who had worked together, through the night, to rescue 23 passengers and crew after the ferry became stranded at about 7.30pm last night.
Mr Harris said: "These were very dangerous conditions and the rescue staff performed brilliantly to save the lives of 23 people.
"They have done a great job in difficult conditions and deserve all the praise they will get."
MP Joan Humble, whose Blackpool North and Fleetwood constituency covers the area where the ferry ran aground, said: "I would like to thank the rescue workers who have risked their lives saving their lives of others.
"The conditions even now in the middle of the day are unbelieveable, so that they must have gone through in the dark, at night, is amazing.
"It is to their immense credit they were no lives lost, or any injuries."
1:48pm Friday 1st February 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
