1 crew member killed, 23 rescued after freighter catches fire in North Sea

Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY
·3 min read

At least one person has died and nearly two dozen people have been rescued as crews on Thursday battled a massive fire on board a freighter carrying nearly 3,000 cars in the North Sea.

The blaze broke out Wednesday and so far 23 people have been rescued from the ship, some who suffered serious injuries, the Dutch coast guard said.

The vessel was sailing from the German port of Bremerhaven to Singapore, about 17 miles north of the Dutch island of Ameland, officials reported.

On Thursday about 4:15 a.m. local time the fire continued to rage, the coast guard said, as crews worked save the vessel from sinking close to an important habitat for migratory birds.

A boat hoses the smoke from a fire which broke out on a freight ship in the North Sea, about 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of the Dutch island of Ameland, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. A fire on the freight ship Fremantle Highway, carrying nearly 3,000 cars, was burning out of control Wednesday in the North Sea, and the Dutch coast guard said it was working to save the vessel from sinking close to an important habitat for migratory birds. (Kustwacht Nederland/Coast Guard Netherlands via AP)

Not yet safe to board

A Netherlands Coast Guard aircraft captured footage of the Fremantle Highway ship burning, showing billows of smoke swirling into the sky.

"This ensures that it is not yet safe for people to board," the coast guard released in a statement.

“Currently, there are a lot of vessels on scene to monitor the situation and to see how to get the fire under control," coast guard spokesperson Lea Versteeg told the Associated Press. "But it’s all depending on weather and the damage to the vessel. So we’re currently working out to see how we can make sure that... the least bad situation is going to happen."

Crew members jump overboard, others rescued by air

Boats and helicopters removed 23 crew members off the ship after they tried to put out the blaze, the coast guard said in a statement. The cause and origin of the fire was not immediately known.

Some crew members jumped off the ship's deck into the sea and were picked up by a lifeboat, the lifeboat's captain told Dutch broadcaster NOS. Some survivors suffered broken bones, burns and breathing problems and were taken to hospitals in the northern Netherlands, emergency services said.

Crews have not released details about how the crew member died. It was not immediately know if anyone else died.

On Wednesday, a salvage company sent an expert to assess whether the ship could be towed, the coast guard said.

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A World-Heritage-listed area at risk

The ship sits close to a chain of popular Dutch and German tourist islands in the Wadden Sea, a World Heritage-listed area described by UNESCO as “the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world” and “one of the most important areas for migratory birds in the world.”

The vessel was carrying 2,857 cars, including 25 electric cars, which created a disadvantage for firefighters.

"It’s not easy to keep that kind of fire under control and even in such a vessel it’s not easy,” Versteeg said.

Contributing: Associated Press

Natalie Neysa Alund covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Freighter catches fire in North Sea, killing 1 crew member; 23 rescued