A BLAZE onboard a cargo ship in the North Sea has been extinguished.

The five-strong crew of the 72-metre Rosebank was rescued by helicopter early on Saturday after a distress call was picked up by the Royal Navy fisheries protection vessel, HMS Anglesey.

The ship was carrying 1,300 tonnes of fertiliser from Dundee to the Channel Islands when fire broke out near the Farne Islands, off the Northumberland coast.

The blaze wrecked the ship's bridge and raged as the vessel drifted slowly towards the coast, until the firefighting tug Phoenix Cross arrived to put out the flames.

A salvage team later managed to get a line aboard and towed the Rosebank to the River Tyne.

All five crew members were taken to the Wansbeck Hospital, Newcastle, where four were later released.

The captain was detained for observation but was not thought to be in a serious condition.