On Wednesday, a fire broke out on a ship carrying some 3,000 cars off the coast of the Netherlands, killing one person and wounding numerous others, according to the coastguard.
A spokesperson for the Dutch coast guard told CNN on Wednesday that rescue boats and helicopters were used to remove the 23 crew members off the ship after some of them jumped into the water.
Images show grey smoke coming from the ship, and there are fears that it may be sinking 27 kilometres north of the Dutch island of Ameland in the Wadden Sea, one of the world’s most important migratory bird migration routes.
According to CNN affiliate and Dutch national network NOS, the ship, which flies the flag of Panama, was travelling from Bremerhaven, Germany, to Port Said, Egypt.
According to NOS, one of the 25 electric vehicles on board may have ignited the fire, but the coast guard representative told CNN that the cause is still being looked into.
On Wednesday night at around midnight local time, the ship reported an onboard fire to the Coast Guard.
The crew made an effort to put out the fire on their own but failed, according to the coast guard.
A number of crew members leaped overboard as the fire advanced.
The Ameland rescue ship’s skipper Willard Molenaar told NOS that “the people had to get off.” “They all jumped at once, and we pulled them out of the water.” Molenaar estimates that the ship carrying the cars is about 30 metres tall. They had to jump since they were in desperate need. You don’t simply do that, he continued.
All 23 crew members disembarked using rescue boats and helicopters, but according to the coast guard, several of them were hurt and one of them died.
As reported by NOS, the remaining crew were evacuated from the ship by helicopter, leaving it empty.
The burning ship is still ablaze. The recovery vessel Hunter is holding the ship in a controlled position and is connected to it in case of emergency. To minimise the damage as much as possible, several parties are putting together an action plan, the coast guard announced in a message on Twitter.
The crew members were treated by paramedics and transported to the adjacent coastal community of Lauwersoog, while others were flown to Groningen Airport in Eelde, according to the coast guard.