A massive ship with thousands of cars on board burst into flames off the Dutch coast Tuesday night.
The blaze broke out on the Panama-registered cargo ship Fremantle Highway around 17 miles north of the Dutch island of Ameland, according to Reuters.
Willard Molenaar of the Royal Dutch Rescue Company (KNRM) told Reuters that “the fire spread quickly, much faster than expected” and that seven crew members were forced to jump overboard.
One crew member perished in the blaze, while the rest were rescued by helicopter, the outlet reported.
The massive vessel originally departed the German port of Bremerhaven with 2,857 cars on board. It has since been moved out of shipping lanes, Reuters reported.
A fire erupted on a cargo ship carrying nearly 3,000 cars, killing at least 1 crew member. https://t.co/OJrjjk748L
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 26, 2023
A Dutch coast guard spokesperson told Reuters that the fire started in the vicinity of an electric car but that the cause of the blaze remains unknown.
“Electric cars burn just as much as combustion engine cars,” Uwe-Peter Schieder, a master mariner and German Insurance Association representative, told Reuters. “When batteries overheat and a so-called ‘thermal runaway’ occurs, then it gets dangerous.” (RELATED: 60,000-Ton Cargo Ship Carrying 1,100 Luxury Cars Bursts Into Flames, Left Adrift In Atlantic Ocean)
Authorities are attempting to stop the ship from sinking near a migratory bird habitat, The Associated Press (AP) reported.