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The U.S. Coast Guard responded on Wednesday morning to a fire aboard the 561-foot ro-ro/passenger vessel Caribbean Fantasy, approximately two nautical miles north of San Juan Harbour in Puerto Rico.

At approximately 7:42 a.m., the Coast Guard said it received a report of a fire aboard the Panamanian-flagged ship carrying 512 passengers. The fire reportedly began in the engine room of the ship and then continued to spread to other compartments on board.

Passengers have been evacuated off the ship and taken to Pier 6 in San Juan port.

Multiple air and surface crews have been responding to the incident, including two Coast Guard 33-foot Special Purpose Craft crews and one 45-foot Response Boat Medium crews out of Coast Guard Station San Juan. Also on-scene is the Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Tezanos and a small boat from the Coast Guard Cutter Donald Horsley.

Additional assets are being diverted to assist, including the Puerto Rico Joint Forces of Action (FURA), fire, pilot and tug boats from the port.

Nestor Tidras, vice president of sales and marketing at America Cruise Ferries, informed the media on Wednesday that the vessel left Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday night at around 7 p.m. and was heading towards San Juan when the fire took place in the engine room at approximately 7:15 a.m.

Ship-tracking data shows that the vessel arrived in Santo Domingo on 16th August at 7:33 a.m and did in fact leave at 7:33 p.m. on the same day.

Tidras added that the vessel had been repaired just two weeks ago and that the Coast Guard had given the go-ahead for it to continue navigating.

The US Coast Guard said in a tweet on Wednesday that the Caribbean Fantasy was "reported to have run aground" 800 yards off Punta Salinas. At the time of writing, details have not been released regarding the condition of the fuel tanks as a result of the incident.