A huge explosion on board a 500ft container ship triggered a huge rescue mission in the North Sea on Wednesday afternoon.

The cargo ship exploded in flames off the Hook of Holland with 19 people on board - the coastguard and firefighters have been deployed to the scene to tackle the blaze and rescue the crew ...

Lifeboats were deployed from Scheveningen and Hook of Holland in the Netherlands and a coastguard helicopter was on standby on a nearby drilling platform in case it was needed for evacuations.

There is still smoke in the ship. The units remain on standby." According to the Netherlands Coast Guard, the fire broke out in the engine room on board the Victoria L. No cargo was on board.