Scandinavian Star Ship

Exhausted firefighters Sunday braved intense heat and poisonous smoke from a burning North Sea ferry to begin removing the bodies of up to 147 victims while Norwegian police began the hunt for a suspected arsonist. The fire aboard the Danish-owned Scandinavian Star ferry was so intense that it melted aluminum on the ship's bridge, according to rescue workers. By late Sunday night, the blaze was reported extinguished.

Swedish police reached the midship cabins of a burned-out ferry and found families who died together at the heart of the fire, the bodies of parents lying over children in a desperate attempt to save them. Inspector Leif Skoglund raised the estimated death toll to 170 in the suspicious weekend blaze that swept the Norwegian North Sea ferry Scandinavian Star. He said one victim in every four may have been a child.

Police and firefighters late Saturday launched what was expected to be a grisly all-night search through the still-smoking hull of a North Sea ferry, looking for the bodies of victims who died in a possible arson attack on the ship during a voyage from Norway to Denmark. Firefighters reported finding at least 110 bodies as the stricken Danish-operated Scandinavian Star was towed from a point about 30 miles from the mouth of the Oslo Fiord to Lysekil, a small port on the west coast of Sweden.

Exhausted firefighters Sunday braved intense heat and poisonous smoke from a burning North Sea ferry to begin removing the bodies of up to 147 victims while Norwegian police began the hunt for a suspected arsonist. The fire aboard the Danish-owned Scandinavian Star ferry was so intense that it melted aluminum on the ship's bridge, according to rescue workers. By late Sunday night, the blaze was reported extinguished.

Swedish police reached the midship cabins of a burned-out ferry and found families who died together at the heart of the fire, the bodies of parents lying over children in a desperate attempt to save them. Inspector Leif Skoglund raised the estimated death toll to 170 in the suspicious weekend blaze that swept the Norwegian North Sea ferry Scandinavian Star. He said one victim in every four may have been a child.

Police and firefighters late Saturday launched what was expected to be a grisly all-night search through the still-smoking hull of a North Sea ferry, looking for the bodies of victims who died in a possible arson attack on the ship during a voyage from Norway to Denmark. Firefighters reported finding at least 110 bodies as the stricken Danish-operated Scandinavian Star was towed from a point about 30 miles from the mouth of the Oslo Fiord to Lysekil, a small port on the west coast of Sweden.