Tugs tow burning cargo ship to new location on North Sea

Panamanian-registered car carrier ship Fremantle Highway being towed on July 31, 2023 after a fire broke out late on July 25, 2023, killing one crew member, and prompting a massive effort to extinguish the flames. (AFP)
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Updated 31 July 2023
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Tugs tow burning cargo ship to new location on North Sea

THE HAGUE: A cargo ship carrying thousands of cars that has been burning on the North Sea for nearly a week was towed Monday to a new location further from the Dutch coast to wait for salvage crews to decide their next steps, the government said.

The Fremantle Highway arrived earlier than expected at an anchorage 16 km north of the Dutch islands of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland, thanks to favorable currents, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management said.

A salvage team is planning to board the burning vessel “as soon as possible” to carry out an inspection, the ministry added.

The ship carrying 3,783 new vehicles, including 498 electric vehicles, from Germany’s Bremerhaven to Singapore has been burning since Tuesday. 

Firefighters decided not to douse the flames with water for fear of making the nearly 200-meter ship unstable as it floats close to North Sea shipping lanes and a world-renowned migratory bird habitat.

A photo posted online by the Dutch ministry on Monday showed almost no smoke emerging from the ship. 

The ministry said smoke was “minimal” as it was towed.

It remains unclear where the Fremantle Highway will be towed next.

“The final port is not yet known,” the ministry said. 

“It depends in part on the situation on board the cargo ship, the expected weather conditions and an available port with the right facilities.”

The cause of the fire is not yet known. 

One member of the ship’s crew died after it broke out and others were injured. 

The crew was evacuated in the early hours of Wednesday.


Bangladesh summons Myanmar envoy after border clashes

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Bangladesh summons Myanmar envoy after border clashes

  • A dozen villages in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district have been affected by the violence

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Tuesday summoned the ambassador of Myanmar after civil war gun battles in the neighboring country spilled over the border, wounding a Bangladeshi girl.

Heavy fighting in Myanmar’s Rakhine state this month has involved junta soldiers, Arakan Army fighters and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army militia guerrillas.

Authorities said around a dozen villages in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district have been affected by the violence.

Twelve-year-old Huzaifa Afnan was struck by a bullet, while a Bangladeshi fisherman had his leg ripped off after stepping on a landmine near the frontier.

“Bangladesh reminded that the unprovoked firing towards Bangladesh is a blatant violation of international law and a hindrance to good neighborly relations,” a Foreign Ministry press statement said.

Myanmar’s ambassador to Bangladesh, U Kyaw Soe Moe, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, where he expressed sincere sympathy to the injured victims and their families.

“My daughter was supposed to go to school, but she is on a ventilator,” Afnan’s father Jasim Uddin said. “My heart is bleeding for my baby girl.”

More than a million Rohingya have fled their homes in Myanmar, many after a 2017 military crackdown, and now eke out a living in sprawling refugee camps just across the border in Bangladesh.

ARSA, a Rohingya armed group formed to defend the persecuted Muslim minority, has been fighting the Myanmar military, as well as rival Arakan Army guerrillas.

On Monday, Bangladeshi border forces detained 53 ARSA fighters who had crossed the frontier.

Bangladeshi police officer Saiful Islam, commander of the local Teknaf station, said all detainees were being held in jail, except one fighter who was receiving hospital treatment for bullet wounds.

“These individuals have a history of living in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and crossing into Myanmar,” Islam told AFP.