The ship is located in the Estonian maritime search and rescue zone, with Estonian authorities in charge of the rescue efforts, according to Yle.

The Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) said that a fire broke out in a residential part of the tanker that was on its way from Russia to Turkey before noon on Thursday.

The fire has been put out and Estonian and Finnish rescue units are on the scene.

The PPA maritime rescue center learned at 11.30 a.m. that a tanker was on fire 12 nautical miles north of the Estonian island of Naissaar.

The PPA dispatched pollution control and rescue vessel Kindral Kurvits that was joined by Finnish rescue vessels.

The MarineTraffic portal showed one Finnish and one Estonian vessel near the Alexia at around 1 p.m.

"Luckily, the people on board managed to extinguish the flames before help arrived and no one's life was in danger. A Finnish ship firefighting team and two boats remain at the scene. It is their task to make sure there are no other pockets of fire on the ship. The crew of Kindral Kurvits is in charge of operational security in the area and is helping our Finnish colleagues," police lieutenant Tago Trei said.

@Merivartiosto with other authorities is responding to maritime SAR in gulf of Finland, vessel in fire, incident is in Estonian SAR region. MIRG units and SAR helos from FI on-route to vessel.

— Merivartiosto - SLMV (@Merivartiosto) September 22, 2022

The Finnish Coast Guard reports the ship as Alexia and says no signs of smoke can be seen coming from the vessel.

This kind of maritime rescue cooperation between Estonia and Finland is commonplace. "We immediately involved the Finns as they are located nearby and have the necessary firefighting capacity," Trei added.

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