A fire erupted aboard a ro-ro operated by Grimaldi Group on Wednesday while off New Jersey that led to the death of two firefighters trying to extinguish the blaze.

The fire started at about 9:30pm local time (0130 GMT Thursday) aboard Grimaldi Deep Sea’s 3,950-lane-metre Grande Costa d’Avorio (built in 2011) while at berth at the Port of Newark and is still active, said company spokesman Mark Clark.