The burning ship carrying thousands of automobiles was towed Monday to a safer location off the coast of the Netherlands.
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The burning ship carrying thousands of automobiles was towed Monday to a safer location off the coast of the Netherlands.
The Panama-flagged Fremantle Highway, laden with almost 3,800 vehicles including nearly 500 electric cars, is now 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland, two of the West Frisian Islands in a UNESCO world heritage site area, according to the Dutch government.
A recovery team will go on board to carry out an inspection as the ship remains attached to the tugs, the Dutch public works and waterways authority Rijkswaterstaat said in a statement. The government started the operation on Sunday with the help of salvage companies after smoke from the cargo ship subsided.
After the ship caught fire late Tuesday its crew had to be rescued by helicopter and one person died. It was en route to Port Said, Egypt, and Singapore after a recent stop in the German port of Bremerhaven, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
The ship was navigating near the Wadden Sea, which is the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world. Such environments are highly sensitive and could be damaged should an oil spill occur. An oil-recovery vessel is on site to take rapid action if the vessel were to leak fuel.
Among the ship’s cargo are several hundred BMW AG cars, plus roughly 300 Mercedes-Benz Group AG vehicles, representatives for the companies have said.
Dutch authorities ultimately want to tow the ship to a port. “The final port is not yet known,” Rijkswaterstaat said in the statement. “This also depends on the situation on board the cargo ship, the expected weather conditions and an available port with the right facilities.”
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