A Sussex rapid reaction force specially trained to deal with ship disasters has been in action for the first time.

Firefighters from East Sussex were airlifted in darkness by Coastguard helicopter to the cruise liner Calypso after it caught fire 15 miles south of Beachy Head, near Eastbourne.

Hundreds of passengers and crew gathered on deck in lifejackets waiting for the order to abandon ship as the engine room filled with flames and smoke.

None of the 708 people on board, including 462 passengers, was injured but some had to be treated for shock.

As maritime investigators tried to establish the cause of the fire, emergency services praised the efficiency of the rescue operation.

The 11,000-ton Calypso sent a Mayday call at 3.47am on Saturday, alerting coastguards, lifeboats, and East Sussex Fire Service.

Two teams of nine firefighters and six medics were winched to the deck.

RNLI crews from Hastings, Eastbourne, Newhaven and Shoreham, as well as three lifeboats from France and the Sussex fisheries protection vessel Watchful sped to the scene.

Four merchant vessels also stood by in case passengers were ordered from the drifting liner into lifeboats.

Len Richards, deputy chief fire officer for East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, and commanding officer of the operation, said: "Any fire on a ship is extremely difficult to deal with.

"When he sent the Mayday the captain ordered people to be prepared for an evacuation. Fortunately that wasn't necessary."

He said the fire had been stabilised by members of the crew who pumped carbon dioxide into the engine room to quell the flames.

Paramedics were also flown out to help passengers, some of whom were distressed by the ordeal.

The only visible sign of the fire from the air was brown scorch marks around an air vent.

It was the first major incident to be dealt with by the new multi-agency Maritime Incident Response Group, which came into being on April 1.

The group is made up of 15 fire services and maritime rescue agencies.

Mr Richards said: "We train for these things very regularly.

"The partnership has worked magnificently. The cooperation between the group was tremendous."

Dave Cassam, of Shoreham RNLI, said: "It was quite a big fire. The passengers all had their life jackets on.

"If a ship gets into trouble we have to be there because you might get casualties and people panicking.

"We are there to pull out of the water people who are injured, in shock or who have hypothermia."

The ship was towed to Southampton by the tug Anglian Monarch. Lifeboats, including one from Selsey, escorted the liner in case anything went wrong en route.

The Calypso docked at 7.40pm and passengers were put up in a hotel.

The Cypriot-registered liner had been making its way from Tilbury, Essex, to St Peter's Port in Guernsey when the blaze started.

Most passengers were Dutch guests of Cruise Travel, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary.

John Wickham, spokesman for Cyprus-based Louis Cruises, which operates the Calypso, said: "The feedback I have been getting is that the passengers are disappointed that their cruise has been cut short by two days.

"But otherwise they were impressed by how smoothly the operation has been carried out.

"The engine was cut off which meant the ship had to be towed back to port but there were emergency generators so the passengers would not have been otherwise inconvenienced."

Pete Legg, senior watch manager for Dover Coastguard, said: "Everybody knew where to go and what to do. It was done very well."

Spike Hughes, who oversaw the rescue for Dover Coastguard, said: "It has been a major operation."