Vessel with 3,000 vehicles catches fire in Pacific
(MENAFN) A cargo ship transporting over 3,000 electric and hybrid vehicles from China to Mexico caught fire in the Pacific Ocean off Alaska’s coast. All 22 crew members safely evacuated in a lifeboat and were rescued by a nearby merchant vessel.
Among the cargo were roughly 750 electric and hybrid cars. The Liberian-flagged, UK-managed vessel Morning Midas issued a distress signal Tuesday afternoon about 300 miles southwest of Adak Island, the US Coast Guard reported.
The Coast Guard called for assistance from three nearby merchant ships and dispatched its own vessels and aircraft to the scene. The ship was also carrying around 1,900 metric tons of fuel.
Officials chose to let the fire burn out rather than extinguish it due to the dangers posed by the lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicles. These batteries can explode and emit toxic gases when ignited, explained Alaska Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer First Class Shannon Kearney, as cited by the New York Times.
Zodiac Maritime, the company managing the vessel, stated the fire began around midnight UTC on June 3.
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