Carrier ablaze off Dutch coast carrying almost 500 electric cars (updated)
28/07/2023 10:37
(Updates with confirmation from charter of carrier)
AMSTERDAM, July 28 (Reuters) - The car carrier burning
off the Dutch coast since Tuesday night is carrying nearly 500
electric vehicles, significantly more than the 25 initially
reported, ship charter company "K Line" said on Friday.
The fire on the Panamanian-registered Fremantle Highway,
which was carrying new cars, resulted in the death of an Indian
crew member and injury of seven others who jumped overboard to
escape the flames.
There were 3,783 vehicles on board, including 498 battery
electric vehicles, a Tokyo-based spokesperson for K Line
(Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha), which had chartered the vessel, said.
He declined to say anything about the car brands, including
whether or not it included any cars from Japanese manufacturers.
The coastguard said on its website Thursday the cause of the
fire was unknown, but an emergency responder is heard in a
recording released by Dutch broadcaster RTL saying "the fire
started in the battery of an electric car".
EV lithium-ion batteries burn with twice the energy of a
normal fire and maritime officials and insurers say the industry
has not kept up with the risks.
An investigation has been launched by the Panama Maritime
Authority and the Netherlands is assisting the inquiry, the
Dutch Safety Board has said.
The 199-metre (653 ft) Fremantle, which is still burning, is
drifting about 17 km from the northernmost Dutch coast, the
coastguard said. It was on the way from Germany to Egypt.
The islands are on the northernmost tip of the Netherlands,
and comprise part of the Wadden Sea, a vast area of tidal flats
and marshland stretching along Germany and Denmark that is on
UNESCO's World Heritage list.
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(Reporting by Miranda Murry and Daniel Leussink; Writing by
Marine Strauss and Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Tassilo Hummel
and Philippa Fletcher)
((Marine.Strauss@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @StraussMarine;))