FIRE NOT YET EXTINGUISHED

If fuel were to leak from the still burning car carrier ‘Fremantle Highway’ north of Ameland, the Netherlands in the coming days, it would spread to the north and not towards the Wadden Islands. This is due to “the current and foreseen wind and wave direction for the coming days,” writes outgoing minister Mark Harbers (Infrastructure and Water Management) in a letter to the House of Representatives.

On Wednesday evening, the Wadden Association reported that no oil had leaked from the ship. Rijkswaterstaat is nearby with an oil recovery vessel to be able to intervene as soon as this is the case. The ship cannot yet be towed away because the fire on board is not yet out.

Initially, the ‘Fremantle Highway’ was close to the shipping channel and an important gas pipeline, Harbers writes. It could be moved and is now held in place with an emergency tow rope. According to the minister, the ship has 2800 cars on board, including a number of electric vehicles.

Before the burning freighter can be towed further away, the temperature on board must drop. For this purpose, the hull of the ship is cooled with a fire extinguishing system from the tug ‘Fairplay 30’. According to a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard, experts on the tug ‘Guardian’ are monitoring the temperature and are working on a plan of action. She does not expect the situation to change any time soon.

The Coast Guard also says that the fire on board the Fremantle Highway cannot yet be extinguished, because the extinguishing water can cause stability problems. It is also not yet possible to bring people on board.

The fire broke out Tuesday night. The cause is not yet known. All crew members were evacuated after the outbreak of the fire. Seven of them jumped from a great height and were rescued by vessels of the Royal Dutch Rescue Company. One of them died on board one of the lifeboats. The remaining sixteen people on board were evacuated by helicopter.

The ship sails under the Panamanian flag, but the owner is the Japanese company Shoei Kisen Kaisha. That says that the ship was on its way to Singapore and is cooperating with the Dutch authorities. The company also reports that 21 Indian crew members were on board, but the Coast Guard is certain that 23 people on board were rescued.

The Indian embassy in the Netherlands also speaks of 21 Indian crew members on social media. The embassy is in contact with those on board and with the family of the deceased crew member.