Großfrachter on fire off the Dutch coast - concern about environmental disaster

Von NAG Redaktion

Niederlande: Brand auf Großfrachter ausgebrochen – ein Toter Vor der niederländischen Küste ist ein großer Auto-Frachter in Brand geraten. Sollte das Schiff sinken, droht eine Umweltkatastrophe. Berlin. 27 Kilometer vor der niederländischen Insel Ameland hängen dichte Rauchwolken über dem Wattenmeer. Seit der Nacht steht hier ein Auto-Frachter in Flammen. Rettungskräfte versuchen nun mit aller Kraft das Schiff vor dem Sinken zu bewahren – sollte das nicht gelingen, droht eine Umweltkatastrophe. Knapp 3000 Autos hat der Frachter „Fremantle Highway“ geladen. Die Besatzung musste nach Ausbruch des Brandes Hals über Kopf das Schiff verlassen. Ein Mensch kam dabei ums Leben, die übrigen …
Netherlands: Fire broke out on Großfrachter-a dead man off the Dutch coast, a large car freighter caught fire. If the ship drops, an environmental disaster threatens. Berlin. Dense clouds of smoke hang over the Wadden Sea 27 kilometers from the Dutch island of Ameland. A car freighter has been on fire here since the night. Rescue workers are now trying to keep the ship from sinking with all the might - if it does not succeed, an environmental disaster threatens. The freighter "Freilantle Highway" has invited almost 3000 cars. The crew had to leave the ship after the fire broke out. A person died, the rest ... (Symbolbild/MB)

Netherlands: Brand out on Großfrachter - a dead

A large car freighter caught fire off the Dutch coast. If the ship falls, an environmental disaster threatens.

Berlin. Dense clouds of smoke hang over the Wadden Sea 27 kilometers from the Dutch island of Ameland. A car freighter has been on fire here since the night. Rescue workers are now trying to keep the ship from sinking with all the might - if it does not succeed, an environmental disaster threatens. The freighter "Freilantle Highway" has invited almost 3000 cars. The crew had to leave the ship after the fire broke out. A person was killed, the remaining 22 were slightly injured.

In the case of a sinking of the ship, fuel, oil and the approximately 3000 cars could get into the water and onto the sea floor. "We do everything we can to prevent this," a spokesman for the water authority told the radio station NOS. But the rescue workers prepared "for all scenarios".

The salvage is difficult, said the spokesman for the coast guard, Edwin Granneman. And the fire was still not under control in the early Wednesday afternoon. An emergency cable over which the freighter is connected to a tractor is not stable enough. "The location is now too unstable to tow the ship away." With the cable, however, the ship no longer blocks the route from and to Germany.

around midnight the fire on the "Foreign Highway", which drives under the flag of Panama and was traveling from Bremerhaven to Egypt, broke out, reported the coast guard. With the approximately 25 electrical cars. The crew tried to contain the fire. But it spread so quickly that the crew had to leave the ship about 200 meters long. Some people had to jump off board - around 30 meters deep.

"One after the other jumped," said captain Willard Molenaar from Ameland's lifeboat, which was the first at the scene of the accident. "They were really in need, otherwise you don't just jump so deep." He and his crew saved seven people from the sea. The rest were taken off with helicopters and brought to several hospitals.

extinguishing and salvage ships were quickly on hand- help also came from Germany. But the fire was difficult to extinguish. Especially the lithium batteries of the electric cars make it difficult to extinguish the extinguishing work, said the spokesman for the coast guard. They may also be the cause of the fire. The industrial insurer of Allianz (AGCS) recently warned of increased fire risk by transporting the lithium-ion batteries on ships. The main causes of fires that emerge from the batteries are production defects, damaged battery cells or devices as well as an overload or short circuits, the insurer writes in his latest shipping study. They are tricky because they are difficult to extinguish and could spontaneously re -ignite. "Most ships neither have sufficient protection nor sufficient early warning or extinguishing capabilities to combat such fires on the high seas," said shipping expert Justus Heinrich.

Environmental organizations and mayor of surrounding areas are concerned about possible damage caused by oil or garbage. "This could mean an environmental disaster for the North Sea and the Wadden Sea," warned a spokesman for the de Noordzee Foundation on Wednesday. From the point of view of the mayor of the German North Sea island of Borkum, a fall of the burning car freighter could result in serious environmental damage. "The worst would be that the ship sinks and in an uncontrolled pollutants are washed into the sea," said Jürgen Akkermann (non -party).

Some now also think back to the catastrophe of the container ship MSC Zoe 2019. At that time the ship in the stormy North Sea had lost 342 containers on the way to Bremerhaven. Most dismantle on the water on the impact, as a result, tons of garbage drove to the beaches. (CSE/dpa)