It is an eerie sight for holidaymakers on the Dutch islands of Ameland and Terschelling: thick clouds of smoke can be seen on the horizon. The car freighter “Fremantle Highway” is still burning off the coast – an ecological time bomb. But according to the coast guard, less ablaze. No more flames can be seen on the ship, a spokeswoman said in the evening of the German Press Agency. But it is too early to give the all-clear. The fire could flare up again.
According to the information, it is still impossible for salvage specialists to enter the “Fremantle Highway”. The air was used to check whether the temperature had dropped. Only then can the salvage specialists get on board. “There is nothing we can do but watch how this develops with the fire,” said water authority spokesman Edwin de Feijter.
In the meantime, the freighter has been coupled to another tug, the Fairplay 30. This emergency connection is stronger than the previous one. The connection with a tug keeps the ship stable and ensures that it does not impede shipping traffic and drift too much.
The Panama-flagged ship was en route from Bremerhaven to Singapore when fire broke out on Wednesday night. The crew was able to abandon ship. A human died.
Emergency services stop cooling
The “Fremantle Highway” is like a floating steel shoebox. “It’s a large shell that’s burning inside. I can only put water on it from the outside, so I can’t get in, I don’t have an opening where I can use extinguishing agents anywhere,” said Lars Tober from the Society for Safety Technology and Ship Safety Baltic Sea in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”.
So you can only cool. But you can’t do that from above – because then too much water gets into the boat. The coast guard fears that it could become unstable and capsize – which is why they have now stopped cooling the side walls.
“The Fremantle Highway is now stable,” said a Coast Guard spokesman. The freighter drifted slightly to the west on Thursday and is now about 16 kilometers north of the island of Terschelling. The forecasts for wind and current are favorable, the chances are good that the freighter will remain stable.
Worry about an oil spill in the world natural heritage
Should the ship capsize or break apart, there is a risk of an oil spill. “Then large amounts of oil could get into the North Sea and lead to an oil spill that endangers the entire ecosystem,” warned Greenpeace marine biologist Thilo Maack.
Contamination is threatening the Wadden Sea area. It is part of the Unesco World Heritage Site and is not only home to thousands of animal and plant species, but is also a resting area for millions of migratory birds.
But more positive news is now coming from The Hague. The minister responsible currently considers the risk of an oil spill for the islands and coasts to be low, as he said. If oil spilled out of the freighter, it would spread north into the open sea, Minister Harbers told Parliament. The forecasts for wind and current are favourable.
Radio communication between rescue workers and the captain
The fire may have started in an electric car battery. At least that is what emerges from the radio traffic of the rescue workers who were in contact with the captain on Wednesday night. The ship loaded 3,783 cars, said the Japanese shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha in Tokyo. 25 of them are electric cars. But whether an electric car was actually the cause of the fire needs to be investigated. The Japanese shipowner is responsible for this.
Dramatic last hours of the occupation
The fragment from the radio traffic published by the Dutch TV broadcaster RTL gives an impression of the crew’s dramatic final hours on board. The 23 men, mostly from India, were trapped. They had no way of getting to the lifeboats, the rescue workers said over the radio. The crew was supposed to leave the ship at around 2.15 a.m., three lifeboats were now at the site. Together with the coast guard and the captain, it was agreed that the men should jump overboard – about 30 meters deep.
Seven people jumped and were recovered, but many were injured, it showed on the lifeboats. “It’s too high to jump, there are too many injured.” A man did not survive the evacuation, he died on a lifeboat. The remaining 16 crew members were later evacuated by helicopter.
