A fishing vessel destroyed by fire on Monday night brought to nine the number of burning fishing vessels that search and rescue crews have had to help, twice the number in the same period last year.

The fishing vessel Viking Explorer was destroyed by fire Monday night off the north coast of Newfoundland. The boat burned to the waterline more than 50 kilometres east of St. Anthony.

The FV Sateleos burned Friday off the coast of Newfoundland.
(Canadian Coast Guard)

A Search and Rescue spokesperson said the five crew members had just enough time to put on their survival suits and get into a life raft after sending a distress call at 7 p.m.

A longliner, the Chanda and Valerie, picked the crew up about 90 minutes after they abandoned ship and brought them to St. Anthony.

Days earlier, two other vessels caught fire off Newfoundland's Burin Peninsula. On Friday evening, five fishermen had to be rescued when a fire started on their vessel about 50 kilometres offshore.

The vessel, the Santeles, issued a distress call at about 10:30 p.m. Friday, before the crew took to the water in a life raft. They were picked up 15 minutes later by a nearby fishing vessel.

Early Friday morning, five more fishermen were plucked from a life raft after their boat caught fire, about 200 kilometres south of the Burin Peninsula.

For the same January-to-August period in 2006, there were four vessel fires, and five in 2005.