In the Netherlands, a cargo ship has caught fire, and officials are attempting to prevent an ecological calamity.

 

For the second straight day, the flaming cargo off the coast of the Netherlands is still completely in flames. In order to stop the boat from sinking, the Coast Guard reported on Thursday that it had halted efforts to put out the fire.

The Dutch government was still working against the clock on Thursday, July 27, to avert a potential ecological catastrophe off their northern beaches, where a cargo-carrying vehicles has been on fire for two days running.

The firefighting efforts have been halted even if their intensity has decreased in order to stop the ship from sinking, according to the coast guard.

There is still a lot of smoke and the fire is still burning. On the other hand, compared to yesterday (Wednesday), the fire's intensity appears to have diminished, they said in a news statement on Thursday evening. "To stop excessive amounts of water from entering the ship, the ship is no longer continually cooled. This compromises the boat's stability, they continued, adding that the situation is not yet "safe" enough to for the deployment of a rescue crew on board.

The latter, however, keeps an eye on the ship from a tug and with the aid of an official aircraft "with a view to a rescue plan".

Even after deploying a tug to which it is tethered in an effort to maintain its current position, the Panamanian-flagged Fremantle Highway was drifting west. But according to the coast guard, the relief altered its course and avoided reaching the navigation channels on Thursday afternoon by taking advantage of a change in the direction of the current.

The Fremantle Highway is being turned as a result of the present adjustments and this particular moment. Therefore, the ship will once more move east, they added.

Large amounts of smoke are still billowing from the boat, according to the most recent overhead photos issued by the Coast Guard. "Damage to the boat may be seen in the video. The paint is coming off. The coast guard said that it has not yet discovered any fractures or voids.

Ecologically sensitive area

 

Thursday morning, Coastguard spokesperson Edwin Granneman told BNR radio that "the risk of an environmental disaster is always present," with the possibility of the boat flipping over and sinking being a potential scenario. The environment would suffer as a result.

According to Mark Harbers, the departing Dutch Minister for Infrastructure and Water Management, if a gasoline leak happened on the Fremantle Highway, it may move away from the islands and into the North Sea due to current currents and wind.

It is yet unclear what started the fire. One of the 25 onboard electric cars, according to the Shoei Kisen Kaisha firm, the ship's Japanese owner, who was quoted by the NOS, may have ignited the fire that broke out just after midnight on Tuesday night in Wednesday. Ever Given, which will blockade the Suez Canal in 2021, is also owned by Shoei Kisen Kaisha.

A series of eight Dutch islands, five of which are inhabited, lie between the Wadden Sea and the North Sea in the north of the Netherlands, close to the islands of Ameland and Terschelling, where the Fremantle Highway is located. The Wadden Sea, which stretches from the Netherlands to Denmark, has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is home to a diverse population of more than 10,000 aquatic and terrestrial species.

The 18,500-ton ship The Fremantle Highway departs from the German port of Bremerhaven and travels to Port Said in Egypt before returning to Singapore, its eventual destination. It would contain around 3,000 automobiles.

One sailor died on a lifeboat, said the NOS, of the 23 crew members that were on board and could be rescued, while several others were hurt. ANP, a Dutch news organization, reports that the crew is from India.

Source:

• https://www.france24.com/fr/europe/20230728-cargo-en-feu-au-pays-bas-les-autorit%C3%A9s-tentent-d-%C3%A9viter-une-catastrophe-%C3%A9cologique