Salvage crews are waiting for temperatures to subside before attempting to board the burning freighter drifting in the North Sea. The Dutch government says the risk of an oil spill is low.
The Dutch Safety Board says an investigation is underway into the cause of the fireImage: JAN SPOELSTRA/ANP/AFP
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A cargo ship that erupted in flames while carrying nearly 3,000 cars off the Dutch coast was still burning on Thursday, the coast guard said.
The Panamanian-flagged Fremantle Highway was sailing from the German port of Bremerhaven to Singapore when it caught fire just before midnight on Tuesday. One Indian crew member died and several of the 22 others on board were injured.
The coast guard said the cause of the fire was unknown. The ship's Japanese owner said there was a "good chance that the fire started with electric cars," but added that the cause still needs to be investigated.
The boat was carrying 2,857 cars, including 25 electric vehicles, according to the coast guard.
Experts waiting to board ship
Salvage specialists were set to fly over the vessel on Thursday to take stock of the ship's condition before experts are able to board.
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Dutch Safety Board spokesman Arjen Zegers told the Reuters news agency that the Panama Maritime Authority had launched an investigation and that the Netherlands was expected to assist in the inquiry.
The ship is currently tied to a tugboat and is drifting westward in international waters, about 16 kilometers (8.6 miles) from the Dutch island of Terschelling.
Burning cargo ship threatens North Sea with major pollution
The Fremantle Highway cargo ship is still burning off the Dutch coast. Rescue workers are trying to prevent it from sinking, a potential environmental disaster. But the firefighting efforts have proven difficult.
A Dutch Coast Guard boat approaches the car carrier cargo ship Fremantle Highway. The ship caught fire early Wednesday morning just under 27 kilometers (16.8 miles) off the coast of the northern Dutch island of Ameland. But containment of the flames on the 200-meter-long ship is slow, and the coast guard expects the freighter to burn for several more days.
Image: JAN SPOELSTRA/ANP/AFP
Difficult work
Boats with water cannons are cooling the ship from both sides. The fire cannot be extinguished directly at the moment because rescue forces cannot reach it. A Coast Guard aircraft still needs to take pictures from the air and check whether the temperature has dropped. Only then can special forces board the ship.
Image: Flying Focus/ANP/AFP
Ready to fly
Rescue workers at Rotterdam Airport prepare for their mission on the Fremantle Highway. The cargo ship had loaded 3783 automobiles, Kisen Kaisha, a spokesman for Japanese shipping company Kawasaki, said Thursday. Among them, he said, were electric cars whose lithium batteries are complicating the firefighting operations. The Dutch coast guard had previously spoken of just under 3000 automobiles.
Image: MARCO VAN DER CAAIJ/ANP/AFP/Getty Images
Danger to the Wadden Sea
Too much water from the firefighting operations could also cause the ship to capsize. The Coast Guard said on Thursday that the ship was stable for now. Should the Fremantle Highway sink, fuel, oil and, of course, the loaded cars would enter the water, which would threaten the Wadden Sea, the largest tidal flats system in the world, with large-scale pollution.
Image: Netherlands Coastguards/AFP
30-meter jump for crew members
An injured crew member of the Fremantle Highway is brought ashore in Lauwersoog. The 23 crew members had to leave the cargo ship head over heels, several of them jumping from the ship from a height of 30 meters. One crew member died and the rest were brought to safety by helicopter with minor injuries, according to Dutch media.
Image: PERSBUREAU METER/ANP/AFP
Environmental disaster feared
The Panama-registered ship had left the German port of Bremerhaven with full fuel tanks. 1,600 tons of heavy fuel oil and 200 tons of diesel could to enter the North Sea. So far, according to the authorities, no oil has spilled out of the burning cargo ship. Environmental protection organizations fear an environmental disaster if the Fremantle Highway sinks.
A man looks with binoculars in the direction of the burning cargo ship from the island of Ameland. According to the Dutch government, the risk of an oil spill in the Wadden Sea islands is low. Escaping fuel would disperse northwards in the open sea, the responsible Dutch Minister for Infrastructure and Water Management Mark Harbers said on Thursday.
Image: Jan Spoelstra/ANP/picture alliance
"Serious danger"
The German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies is supporting the operation. The emergency tugboat Nordic (pictured above) sprayed water onto the Fremantle Highway on Wednesday. On Thursday, the German government offered further help: "Germany will provide anything that can help," said German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke. The unique Wadden Sea National Park is in serious danger, she said.
The Fremantle Highway's proximity to the World Heritage-listed Wadden See — an ecologically sensitive bird habitat — has sparked concerns about the environmental fallout should the boat sink. German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said that possibility couldn't be ruled out.
"A totally normal car transport by sea could turn into an environmental catastrophe of unknown proportions," Lemke said in a statement. "This fills me with deep concern."
She said that if the ship sinks, "large quantities of fuel and other environmentally harmful pollutants from the cargo ship's load could contaminate the sensitive ecosystem of the North Sea extensively. The unique Wadden Sea national park is in serious danger. That must be prevented with all our resources."
However, Dutch Infrastructure and Waterways Minister Mark Harbers said in a letter to lawmakers that the risk of an oil spill was low.
"The current and anticipated wind and wave direction for the coming days are such that any contamination will spread to the north, and therefore not to the Wadden Islands."
The Wadden Sea — a unique habitat between land and water
