The possible cause of the fire was an electric vehicle, one of some 25 on board, the official said. / Photo: Twitter
At least one person has died, and several others have been wounded after a fire broke out on Panama cargo ship, the Fremantle Highway, off the Dutch coast. The ship was transporting 2,857 cars, 25 of which were electric cars. It was one of the electric cars that caught fire, a spokesperson for the coastguard told Reuters on Wednesday."The crew tried to put out the fire themselves, but failed. Unfortunately one person died and several others were injured," the coast guard said.
There were 23 crew members on board. All were evacuated, but it is not clear how many of them were wounded. The coast guard only reported there were"many wounded". The Fremantle Highway is an 18,500-tonne car carrier ship and was sailing between Bremerhaven in Germany and Port Said in Egypt, according to the marinetraffic.com website, when the blaze broke out.Salvage vessels were on the scene trying to put out the blaze and prevent the ship from sinking, the NOS national broadcaster said.