Family members, contractors from HMCS Protecteur arrive in Pearl Harbor

ESQUIMALT, B.C. – Family members and civilian contractors who were on board a Canadian Navy supply ship when it caught fire in the Pacific Ocean have landed safely in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The Department of National Defence says the group arrived aboard the USS Michael Murphy, one of two U.S. Navy ships that went to aid the HMCS Protecteur.

A fire in the engine room five days ago injured several navy personnel and left the Canadian vessel adrift in the open ocean.

Nearly 300 people were on the vessel, including 17 family members who were allowed to join the crew on its return trip.

The Protecteur is being towed back to the U.S. base in Hawaii by an American naval ship and is expected to arrive Thursday.

The cause of the fire is under investigation but navy officials say it will be repaired in Hawaii and returned to its home port in Esquimalt, on Vancouver Island.

The 45-year-old Protecteur was damaged last August in a collision with another navy ship en route to Hawaii, and the military announced in October that it will be retired next year.