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One crew member died and others were injured when the fire erupted.
Indian Sailors Rescued: A group of 20 Indian crew members has been successfully rescued and returned home. The group was onboard a cargo ship off the Dutch coast that had caught fire last week, say reports.
“20 Indian crew rescued from ship Fremantle Highway have safely returned to India over the past week. Thank Dutch authorities for their support and assistance as well as our sailors for their fortitude and courage through this difficult time,” the Indian Embassy in the Netherlands tweeted on Thursday.
The incident occurred when a fire broke out on July 25 on the 199-metre Panama-registered Fremantle Highway while it was going to Egypt from Germany. An Indian died and several others jumped off to save themselves from the fire.
The Embassy said that the “mortal remains of one crew member who unfortunately passed away are being repatriated”.
The embassy had earlier said that all possible assistance, including medical attention, was being extended to the Indian sailors in coordination with the Dutch authorities and the shipping company.
The ship carrying almost 4,000 cars in the North Sea, has been towed into port in the north-east of the Netherlands reported the BBC.
The Dutch coast guard stressed the cause of the fire on the 11-deck ship was unknown but an audio recording of one rescue worker said it had started in the battery of an electric vehicle and “it appears an electric vehicle exploded too”.
The fire started on an upper deck and while four of the ship’s decks were relatively undamaged in the hull, the eighth deck had partly collapsed because of the intensity of the fire, the BBC said quoting salvage experts.
The fire burned aboard the ship for almost a week, raising fears of an environmental disaster in the waters of the Wadden Sea, a World Heritage site.
Fremantle Highway Was Carrying New Vehicles
The Fremantle Highway, carrying 3,783 new vehicles, including 498 electric ones, from the German port city of Bremerhaven to Singapore had been ablaze since late on July 25. Firefighters decided not to douse the flames with water for fear of making the nearly 200-meter (around 650-foot) ship unstable as it floated close to North Sea shipping lanes and a world-renowned migratory bird habitat.
“The situation on board the cargo ship is still stable. There are no indications that the fire is still burning,” the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management said, adding that the ship is intact below the waterline.
Photos released Monday by the Netherlands coast guard appeared to show no smoke billowing out of the ship, which is anchored 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of the Dutch islands of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland while authorities decide which port it will be towed to for the next stage of the complex salvage operation.
“The recovery companies are working on a plan of action for towing the freighter to its final location and salvaging it,” the ministry said.
One crew member died and others were injured when the fire erupted. The crew of 21, all Indian nationals, and two other people on board, were evacuated in the early hours of July 26.
(With AP inputs)
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