"Morning Midas": Freighter with hundreds of electric cars burns in North Pacific
Hundreds of kilometers south of Alaska, a car freighter has caught fire with hundreds of electric cars on board. The crew was completely evacuated.
The burning "Morning Midas" and on the right part of the "Cosco Hellas", which the crew evacuated.
(Image: US Coast Guard)
A cargo ship that caught fire in the North Pacific with several hundred electric cars on board has been evacuated, and the fire is still burning. The US Coast Guard has announced that the ship named “Morning Midas”, which was evacuated around 500 km south of the Aleutian settlement of Adak, was carrying exactly, 3048 vehicles, 70 of which were pure electric cars. A further 681 vehicles are hybrid-powered, which means they are also electric cars. The majority of the rest apparently have a combustion engine and therefore no large battery on board. The coastguard is therefore working with the shipping company Zodiac Maritime to coordinate the salvage of the burning ship. So it was not abandoned.
Aufnahmen der brennende "Morning Midas" (4 Bilder)
US Coast Guard
)Almost 2000 tons of fuel
As the US Coast Guard explains, the distress call from the Liberian-flagged cargo ship was received on Tuesday local time. As a result, all ships in the vicinity were asked to provide assistance if possible. Three ships did so, and all 22 crew members reached one of them unharmed by a lifeboat. According to the coast guard, it is unclear what the status of the fire on board is now, but thick smoke is still rising. There are not only several hundred electric cars on board, but also 350 tons of gas fuel and 1,530 tons of low-sulphur heating oil, according to the Coast Guard. At least that is what the coast guard was told by the operator.
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The incident in the North Pacific is reminiscent of the fire on the car freighter “Fremantle Highway” in the North Sea almost two years ago. Back then, the ship that caught fire was also carrying several thousand cars. Initially, it was said that only a few dozen of these were also purely electric cars, but ultimately almost 500 were found there. It was also initially assumed that one of the electric cars had caught fire and started the fire. However, this was not confirmed. All the electric cars were recovered in apparently good condition. At the same time, however, part of the decks, including the vehicles standing there, had completely melted. One person was killed during the evacuation.
(mho)
