A cargo ship within the mid-Atlantic close to Portugal's Azores Islands is anticipated to be towed to the Bahamas because of a fireplace that has burned for almost per week.

Portuguese Air Drive helicopters evacuated 22 crew members final week from the Felicity Ace, which has been on hearth for six days. The 650-foot vessel is about to be towed after two ocean tugboats helped put out the fireplace, with two extra tugboats on the best way, the Related Press reported.

The cargo ship was touring from Germany to Rhode Island carrying about 4,000 luxurious automobiles estimated to be value $400 million. The automobiles included Volkswagen-owned manufacturers corresponding to Lamborghini, Porsche, Audi and Bentley, together with a number of electrical fashions, the Guardian reported.

The hearth broke out Wednesday close to the cargo deck the place the autos have been saved. By the point the alarms went off, there was an excessive amount of smoke to determine the place the fireplace began, mentioned port of Horta harbormaster Captain Joao Mendes Cabecas, on the Azorean island of Faial, in response to AP.

The reason for the blaze remains to be unknown, though there are theories it was as a result of lithium batteries in a number of the electrical autos, AP reported Cabecas mentioned. The lithium batteries have been "maintaining the fireplace alive," Cabecas advised Reuters.

Fire on Car Transport Ship
On this undated photograph supplied by the Portuguese Navy, smoke billows from the burning Felicity Ace automobile transport ship as seen from the Portuguese Navy NPR Setubal ship southeast of the mid-Atlantic Portuguese Azores Islands. The ship's crew was taken by helicopter to Faial island on the archipelago, about 100 miles away on February 16, 2022.Portuguese Navy/AP Photograph

The hearth could possibly be extinguished solely from the ship's exterior by attempting to chill down its construction because it was too harmful to try to go on board. The problem with placing out the fireplace was that water doesn't cease lithium-ion batteries from burning, Cabecas advised Reuters.

As of Tuesday, the flames might not be seen from the skin and Cabecas mentioned salvage crews hope to have the ability to hook up a towline to the ship Wednesday, earlier than it's anticipated to be dropped at the Bahamas, AP reported.

The ship's operator, MOL Ship Administration (Singapore), mentioned there was no oil leakage from the fireplace and the vessel stays steady. When the ship is secure to board, there shall be an evaluation of salvage plans, the corporate mentioned in astatement Tuesday.

Insurance coverage specialists at Russell Group advised the Guardian on Monday that they count on the fireplace to end in at the least $155 million in losses for Volkswagen. The automobile firm mentioned it's attempting to get extra details about the incident.

This is not the primary time Volkswagen has misplaced autos from a cargo ship at sea. In 2019, the Grande American was carrying greater than 2,000 automobiles, together with Audis and Porsches, when it caught hearth and sank, Bloomberg reported.

Replace 2/22/22, 10:23 a.m. ET: This text was up to date with further data.