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Chaos At Sea: Ship On Fire With Electric Car Cargo Exposes Risks Of Lithium Batteries And Leaves Victims Aboard!
The cargo ship Fremantle Highway caught fire after departing from Bremerhaven, Germany. The Coast Guard suspects the fire on the vessel originated from one of the lithium batteries in one of the 25 electric vehicles the ship was carrying. Although the crew attempted to contain the fire, it spread rapidly, making their efforts futile.
About 350 Of The Vehicles Aboard Were From Mercedes-Benz
One crew member died while others suffered smoke inhalation or were injured during the evacuation. A total of 23 crew members were aboard the cargo ship, which is now abandoned. Mercedes-Benz confirmed to the American site Automotive News that approximately 350 of the cars aboard the ship were from the brand, adding that the company was in contact with the transport provider.
The fire, caused by the lithium battery of the electric cars, is currently happening in the forward section of the ship, which is tilting, and there are fears it might sink. Firefighting teams that arrived on the scene were unable to board the ship due to the flames. Thus, firefighting boats were used to combat the fire and cool the ship.
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Rescue teams secured a cable to prevent the ship from drifting and blocking important shipping routes. According to the Coast Guard spokesperson, the fire may last several days and specifies that the rescue team responsible for extinguishing the fire cannot yet complete the operation because the cargo ship is not stabilized.
Ship Fire Occurs About 27 Km North Of The Dutch Island Of Ameland
To contain the fire caused by the lithium batteries of the electric vehicles, it will be necessary to take people aboard and extinguish the flames. This means they will have to bring water to the ship, which poses additional risks, the spokesperson said, adding that water has been sprayed on the sides of the vessel to cool it down. Emergency teams received a call shortly after midnight (local) reporting the fire on the Fremantle Highway, about 27 km north of the Dutch island of Ameland.
A spokesperson for the mayor of Ameland Island, Leo Pieter Stoel, expressed fears of serious environmental damage if the ship with the 25 electric cars sinks. This is the major concern of the islands, that something might happen in one of the navigation channels that could harm the environment.
The Fremantle Highway is a car carrier with a capacity of 18,500 tons of cargo that was sailing between Bremerhaven, Germany, and Port Said, Egypt, according to the maritime traffic monitoring site Marinetraffic.com.
Other Incidents Involving Ships Transporting Electric Vehicles
This is not the first fire on a car carrier and it certainly won’t be the last. On February 16 of last year, a fire broke out aboard the Felicity Ace, a cargo ship carrying 4,000 cars, including about 300 electric cars.
The ship burned until there was nothing left to burn and sank two weeks later. The tragedy of this ship was deemed a trigger for significant changes in the shipping industry to prevent further tragedies of this kind. However, this did not prevent another fire on the Fremantle cargo ship.
The electric vehicles are equipped with lithium-ion batteries. When this component catches fire, the oxides in the cell chemistry cause them to generate oxygen, keeping the fire alive. Even if the fire does not originate in the battery itself, heat can cause the lithium-ion cells to self-ignite and spread from cell to cell and from car to car.
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