FIREMEN battle a blaze aboard the 17,738-dwt car carrier Felicity Ace that is still burning because of lithium batteries in the electric vehicles in the hold, reports Reuters.
They cannot use water because water extinguishers do not stop lithium-ion batteries from burning on a vessel carrying thousands of luxury cars.
The Felicity Ace, en route Emden, Germany to Davisville, Rhode Island, lies 100 kilometres from the Azores.
The ship, carrying around 4,000 vehicles including Porsches, Audis and Bentleys, some electric with lithium-ion batteries, caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
'The intervention to put out the blaze has to be done very slowly,' said Joao Mendes Cabecas, captain of the nearest port in the Azorean island of Faial. 'It will take a while.'
Lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicles on board are 'keeping the fire alive,' he said, adding that specialist equipment to extinguish it was on the way.
Volkswagen, which owns the brands, did not confirm the total number of cars on board and said it was awaiting further information.
Capt Cabecas said that 'everything was on fire about five metres above the water line' and the blaze was still far from the ship's fuel tanks, but getting closer.
'The fire spread further down,' he said, explaining that teams could only tackle the fire from outside by cooling down the ship's structure as it was too dangerous to go on board.
The Panama-flagged ship will be towed to a country in Europe or to the Bahamas but it is unclear when that will happen.
SeaNews Turkey
They cannot use water because water extinguishers do not stop lithium-ion batteries from burning on a vessel carrying thousands of luxury cars.
The Felicity Ace, en route Emden, Germany to Davisville, Rhode Island, lies 100 kilometres from the Azores.
The ship, carrying around 4,000 vehicles including Porsches, Audis and Bentleys, some electric with lithium-ion batteries, caught fire in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
'The intervention to put out the blaze has to be done very slowly,' said Joao Mendes Cabecas, captain of the nearest port in the Azorean island of Faial. 'It will take a while.'
Lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicles on board are 'keeping the fire alive,' he said, adding that specialist equipment to extinguish it was on the way.
Volkswagen, which owns the brands, did not confirm the total number of cars on board and said it was awaiting further information.
Capt Cabecas said that 'everything was on fire about five metres above the water line' and the blaze was still far from the ship's fuel tanks, but getting closer.
'The fire spread further down,' he said, explaining that teams could only tackle the fire from outside by cooling down the ship's structure as it was too dangerous to go on board.
The Panama-flagged ship will be towed to a country in Europe or to the Bahamas but it is unclear when that will happen.
SeaNews Turkey