2023-08-03 21:05:17
A spectacular rescue. The cargo ship that caught fire off the coast of the Netherlands, with hundreds of electric cars on board, was towed to a Dutch port on Thursday as the feared environmental disaster was averted more than a week after the start of the the fire.
As onlookers watched, the blackened carcass of the Fremantle Highway arrived at the port of Eemshaven, pulled by two tugs and accompanied by a boat capable of cleaning up possible oil spills at sea. According to local media, the ship will be able to stay there until October 14th.
The towing was able to start early Thursday morning and “went without any problems”, confirmed the Dutch national institute for water management, the Rijkswaterstaat. At least seven sailors had jumped overboard when their freighter caught fire on the night of July 25-26. One of them died. Authorities feared an environmental disaster, as the cargo ship caught fire near an environmentally sensitive area.
Nearly 4,000 cars transported
“We have ensured that the Wadden Sea and the Wadden Islands are not polluted and we are proud of that,” port captain Pieter van der Wal told the Dutch press agency ANP. The Wadden Sea, which runs along a coastal region stretching from the Netherlands to Denmark, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has a rich biodiversity of over 10,000 aquatic and terrestrial species.
The 18,500-ton freighter, flying the Panamanian flag, was carrying 3,783 new cars, including 498 electric vehicles, according to the K Line company which chartered the ship. Among the latter were BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi and Lamborghini, with a total loss likely to exceed 300 million euros, ANP said. One of the electric cars on board could be the cause of the fire.
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