
Car carrier with EV major fire, North sea off Netherlands
Coast Guard and emergency services were alerted around midnight Jul 26 about major fire on board of car carrier FREMANTLE HIGHWAY in North sea, off Dutch coast. The ship with 2857 cars on board, including 25 EV, left Bremerhaven at around 1430 UTC Jul 25, bound for Egypt, fire erupted at around 2130 UTC Jul 25. FREMANTLE HIGHWAY went NUC and is drifting since then, with AIS still on. Fire erupted on cargo deck, probably spread to other decks, 23 crew were rescued, with some of them having to jump in water to save themselves from fire.
Reportedly, tugs and SAR ships gathered around car carrier, avoid using water to fight fire, fearing, obviously, loss of stability. The ship is said to already develop a list.