Stockholm - Scores of passengers were evacuated Tuesday after fire broke out on during welding work on a Malta-registered cruise vessel visiting Stockholm harbour.

Two crew members were taken to hospital after sustaining smoke inhalation injuries, Stockholm police spokesman Bjorn Engstrom told the German Press Agency dpa.

Medical staff also checked over 10 other crew members who had been near the fire, he added.

The emergency services said an initial assessment suggested the fire was caused by welding work on one of the lower decks in the front of the vessel.

The fire was extinguished and emergency services were focusing on airing out the smoke, Engstrom added.

The Zenith has a capacity for some 1,600 passengers, but not all of them were onboard Tuesday afternoon when the evacuation was ordered as an unknown number were shopping or sightseeing in Stockholm.

Many of the passengers were from Spain and Portugal, police said.

The vessel was built 1992 by the German shipyard Meyer Werft in Papenburg and was operated by the Spain-based company Pullmantur Cruises.(dpa)