The Hague, Jul 30 a few days off the coast of the Netherlands of the cargo ship Fremantle Highway, said the National Agency for Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management of the Netherlands.
Earlier it was reported that the towing of the ship was canceled due to the direction of the wind and the ship's smoke.
«The smoke from the cargo ship has significantly decreased this afternoon and the rescue team has taken advantage of it immediately… The ship is being slowly towed… to a new (temporary) location — 16 km north of the Schiermonnikoog and Ameland Islands» , the agency said in a statement.
As noted, the exact time of arrival at the place of temporary anchorage cannot yet be named: it will depend on weather conditions and the ship's smoke.
The fire on board the freighter Fremantle Highway with 23 crew members started on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. At that moment, the ship was 27 kilometers north of the Dutch island of Ameland in the North Sea. As a result of the fire, one person died and 16 were injured. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals, and everyone else was evacuated by helicopter. The ship was transporting cars from Germany to Egypt. As reported, the fire could have started in one of the electric vehicles that were on board.
Later it became known that the ship was carrying 3,783 vehicles, of which 498 were electric or hybrid vehicles.
On Thursday, rescuers suspended fire fighting to prevent the ship from sinking.