MANILA, Philippines - Fire hit before dawn on Tuesday a docked vessel of the Aboitiz Transport System Company (ATSC), destroying P100,000 worth of equipment at the Dona Eva Macapagal Super Terminal in Manila.

Nobody was hurt in the blaze at the Super Ferry 1.

Bureau of Fire Protection National Capital Region (BFP-NCR) director Senior Superintendent Pablito Cordeta said that the fire broke out at around 3:42 a.m., on Tuesday, at the kitchen located at the middle portion of the galley on Deck B of the SuperFerry 1 docked at Pier 15 of the North Harbor in Tondo.

Cordeta revealed that the immediate response of Manila firefighters enabled them to make quick work of putting out the blaze at around 4:37 am.

The BFP-NCR chief pointed out that arson investigators were looking into the possibility that defective electric lighting installation set off the fire although he said that a member of the ship?s crew insisted that a stove left unattended had triggered the blaze.

The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) earlier suspended all passenger ferrying operations of the ATSC pending the results of the inquiry into the SuperFerry 9 sinking off the coast of Zamboanga del Norte, where 10 passengers drowned.