Featured Image Credit: Portuguese Navy
Topics: World News
Cameron Frew
A cargo ship carrying nearly 4,000 luxury cars has sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after it caught fire and couldn't be saved.
The Felicity Ace was en route from Germany to a port in Rhode Island on Wednesday, February 16, when it was forced to issue distress signals after a fire emerged in one of its cargo decks. Soon, the entire 22-strong crew were evacuated, and thankfully nobody was injured.
However, while there's been no loss of human life as a result of the incident, the same can't be said about the millions of dollars worth of cars now sinking to the bottom of the ocean: Porsches, Bentleys, Lamborghinis and more, lost to the deep.
According to the Felicity Ace Incident Information Centre, efforts to tow the ship were eventually futile. 'Initial reports from the local salvage team state that the vessel had sunk at around 9AM local time having suffered a list to starboard,' a statement from yesterday, March 1, read.
'The last vessel position was around 220nm off the Azores. The salvage crafts will remain around the area to monitor the situation. Further information will be provided as it becomes available,' it added.
It's still unclear what exactly started the blaze. The ship was carrying a mixture of electric and non-electric cars, but according to captain Joao Mendes Cabecas of the port of Hortas, lithium-ion batteries in EVs aboard the ship caught fire, Reuters reports.
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'When the towing started... water started to come in. The ship lost its stability and sank,' he explained. Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for MOL Ship Management, also told Automotive News, 'The weather was pretty rough out there... and then she sank, which was a surprise.'
The ship was carrying a total of 3,965 Volkswagen Group vehicles, with around a quarter of them said to be Porsches, as per Bloomberg. One of them was believed to be a Porsche 718 Spyder belonging to YouTube star Matt Farah. 'I just got the call from my dealer. My car is now adrift, possibly on fire, in the middle of the ocean,' he earlier said.
Porsche itself estimated 1,100 of its vehicles to be on the ship, in addition to 189 Bentleys and an unspecified number of Audis and Volkswagens.
The value of the ship itself was estimated $24.5 million — however, the vehicles themselves are valued at closer to $500 million overall, as per Car and Driver. Yikes.
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