INEOS Britannia training boat suffers fire onboard

Feb 16 (Reuters) - Britain's America's Cup challenger, INEOS Britannia, suffered a setback on Friday after one of its AC40 training boats was damaged on Friday following an electrical fire on board.

Athena was heading northeast of Barcelona for a training day when the crew had to react to a sudden electrical fire highlighted by smoke coming out of the forward hatch.

No one was injured in the incident that required the support of the local emergency services. The boat was back ashore for evaluation.

"Fire onboard any boat is always an incredibly difficult situation to manage," team skipper and principal Ben Ainslie said.

"We will now focus on assessing the damage to Athena alongside completing the final fitout of our AC75 Race Boat which we will see in Barcelona in April."