A fire on a cargo ship with thousands of cars drifting in the Atlantic Ocean has begun to subside. Joao Mendes Cabezas, the head of the port on the Azores island of Faial, who is closest to the site of the incident, told Lusa about this. According to him, there is almost no cargo left on the ship that can burn, reports Reuters.
The Felicity Ace was carrying nearly 4,000 Volkswagen vehicles, including Porsche, Audi and Bentley. Some are equipped with lithium-ion batteries that kept the ship on fire, a port spokesman explained.
“We are concerned about pollution, because there is a lot of fuel and car batteries on board, but so far there are no pockets of pollution,” Cabezas added.
As the fire subsides, firefighters and technicians will be able to board the Felicity Ace and prepare the ship for transport. It is assumed that the ship will be towed to Europe or the Bahamas.
The cargo ship Felicity Ace caught fire off the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean on February 16. All 22 crew members evacuated. The car carrier left Germany on February 10 and was due to arrive in the US on the morning of February 23.
bbabo.Net