LONDON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- A cruise liner with 708 people on board caught fire in the English Channel early Saturday, but the fire was extinguished within hours, the coastguard said.

    The crew had managed to put out the fire when a six-member maritime fire response team had been helicoptered to the ship, a coastguard spokesman said.

    The crew members had readied lifeboats for evacuation but it would be no need to abandon the ship, he added.

    The fire started at 3:47 a.m. (0247 GMT) in the engine room. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

    The "Calypso", a Cyprus registered vessel, was 16 miles (26 km) off the southeastern English town of Eastbourne when the fire broke out, the Sky News reported.

    Most of the passengers were British and the crew members were mainly Cypriots. Enditem