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.

Image: Kustwacht Nederland/Coast Guard Netherlands/AP/picture alliance

Smoke eminates from the Fremantle Highway cargo ship off the Dutch coast.

Freight ship in flames

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

A Coast Guard boat approaches the cargo ship from the left, which is drifting in the sea and smoking heavily

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

The aerial view shows the burning Freemantle Highway cargo ship with clouds of smoke rising from it. Smaller ships can be seen around her, several of which are spraying water onto the freighter.

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

Two helicopters are parked in front of an airport building; several people in orange overalls can be seen around them.

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

The burning freighter drifts on the North Sea, clouds of smoke rising from it; a smaller ship can be seen on the right of the picture.

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

Several rescue workers are pushing a person on a stretcher over a landing stage; a rescue boat can be seen on the right of the picture, with the North Sea in the background.

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.

Image: Kustwacht Nederland/Coast Guard Netherlands/AP/picture alliance

The aerial photo shows the burning cargo ship with gigantic clouds of smoke rising from it.

Safe on land?

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

Several people are walking along the beach, in the background a surf wall and the waves of the North Sea can be seen. A man in shorts and a black sweater looks through a binoculars out to sea.

"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.

Image: Coast Guard Netherlands/dpa/picture alliance

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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.

Freight ship in flames

Difficult work

Ready to fly

Danger to the Wadden Sea

30-meter jump for crew members

Environmental disaster feared

Safe on land?

"Serious danger"

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.

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