Unalaska, AK – The fishing vessel Pacific Glacier is on its way back to Dutch Harbor after a serious fire that broke out on the boat Tuesday evening was contained early this morning.

No injuries or deaths were reported among the 106-member crew of the 276-foot factory trawler, where a fire originating in the laundry room spread to other parts of the ship at about 5 p.m. yesterday. As of late this morning the Pacific Glacier was being escorted back to Dutch Harbor by the Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley, which arrived on the scene around midnight Tuesday night.

The Pacific Glacier is traveling under its own power, although the fire isn't completely extinguished, according to the Coast Guard. The fire burned for 12 hours before it was contained at 5 a.m. this morning, and appears to have done a great deal of damage to the ship. Chief Petty Officer Barry Lane said that Coast Guard investigators from Air Station Kodiak will meet the ship in Dutch Harbor to assess its condition.

"We know there's significant damage, obviously, because the fire took so long to be put out," he said.

The ship made a mayday call to the Coast Guard at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Two nearby fishing vessels, the Northern Glacier and the Seattle Enterprise, responded to the fire, and helped 90 members of the Pacific Glacier's crew evacuate the ship. The remaining 16 crew members stayed onboard to fight the fire.

Lane credited the actions of the other fishing boats' crews with keeping a bad situation from becoming a tragic one.

"They came to the aid of fellow mariners in distress--they put out the fire, and no one was killed," he said. "Because of the [crews] of the Northern Glacier and the Seattle Enterprise, lives were saved today."

The Pacific Glacier was fishing for pollock in the Bering Sea, and is owned by the Glacier Fish Co. of Seattle.

"The economic damage is yet to be assessed," the company said in a press release issued this morning. "It is clear that the vessel will lose the remainder of this winter fishing season."