A fire that had raged for more than 30 hours on board a Lithuanian-flagged car ferry carrying 200 tonnes of fuel and anchored in Danish waters was almost extinguished yesterday, the Danish navy said.

“There are no longer visible flames on board, only some smoke and the smoke is much less than yesterday,” the duty commander at the Danish navy operational command said.

Firefighters were set to board the ferry on Sunday to check if there were any fires inside the ship and empty the vessel of water, but the operation was postponed until Monday because the temperature on board was still too high, the navy said.

“The situation is stable, and the fire-fighting ships are continuing to throw water on the ship from the outside,” the commander said, adding the risk of pollution from the fuel on board was low and stable.

Danish authorities said on Saturday the ship contained up to 200 tonnes of fuel but that none had been spilled.

The Danish-owned Lisco Gloria ferry was travelling from Kiel in Germany to the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda when an explosion on board overnight Friday into Saturday caused a fire.

German authorities said Saturday 249 people were evacuated and brought back to Kiel, including the ship’s crew. Twenty-eight needed medical treatment and 23 were in hospital on Saturday suffering from smoke inhalation. None had serious injuries.

After the blast, the ship drifted into Danish waters and was anchored about three kilometres from the Danish island of Langeland.

Authorities played down the likelihood that a “terrorist” attack had caused the blast.

“The investigation is continuing, but the first indications are that it was most likely caused by a technical fault on a lorry,” Stefan Jung, police spokesman in the northern German city of Kiel, said.