Cargo ship carrying nearly 3,000 cars on fire in North Sea, 1 dead and several hurt
- Fire aboard Panama-registered Fremantle Highway off the northern tip of Netherlands
- Cargo vessel was transporting 2,857 cars from Germany to Egypt, 25 of them electric
A fire on a freight ship carrying nearly 3,000 cars was burning out of control Wednesday in the North Sea, and the Dutch coast guard said one crew member had died, others were hurt and it was working to save the vessel from sinking.
Boats and helicopters were used to get the 23 crew members off the ship after they tried unsuccessfully to put out the blaze, the coast guard said in a statement.
“Currently there are a lot of vessels on scene to monitor the situation and to see how to get the fire under control,” coast guard spokesperson Lea Versteeg said by telephone.
“But it’s all depending on weather and the damage to the vessel. So we’re currently working out to see how we can make sure that … the least bad situation is going to happen.”
Asked if it was possible the ship would sink, Versteeg said, “It’s a scenario we’re taking into account and we’re preparing for all scenarios.”
The Fremantle Highway was sailing from the German port of Bremen to Port Said in Egypt when it caught fire about 27km (17 miles) north of the Dutch island of Ameland.