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»Fremantle Highway«: Footage from a Coast Guard aircraft shows the ship surrounded by smoke
Photograph:
Coast Guard Netherlands / dpa
The "Fremantle Highway" continues to burn, but probably less strongly: The intensity of the fire seems to have subsided, the Dutch Coast Guard said on Thursday evening. But there's still a lot of smoke." There are no more flames to be seen on the ship, said a spokeswoman for the dpa news agency. However, it is too early to give the all-clear. The fire could also flare up again. The fire on the freighter with around 3800 cars broke out on Wednesday night off the Wadden Sea island of Ameland in the North Sea.
According to the information, it is still impossible for salvage specialists to enter the "Fremantle Highway". The cooling of the side walls of the freighter has since been interrupted. This is possible because the intensity of the fire has decreased. Too much seawater on the ship could jeopardize stability.
Specialists can't do much more than wait and see right now. "All we can do is watch the fire develop," said water authority spokesman Edwin de Feijter.
In addition, the Coast Guard decided to turn the ship with the help of a tugboat. As the current changes, the ship can drift eastwards again in a controlled manner. Due to the tugboat, the "Fremantle Highway" remains outside the ferry routes and at a safe distance from regular shipping traffic. The freighter was initially in the north of the Wadden Sea island of Ameland and was driven on Thursday by wind and current to the west to about 16 kilometers north of the neighboring island of Terschelling.
Sailed in Bremerhaven
The Panamanian-flagged ship had left Bremerhaven and was to continue to Singapore. The 23 people on board, including 21 crew members from India, had to leave the freighter quickly after the fire broke out. One person was killed. The 22 survivors were slightly injured, according to Dutch sources, and are safe.
sol/dpa