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Ship carrying 3,000 electric and hybrid cars catches fire in Pacific

All 22 crew members evacuated unscathed from the Morning Midas, which was transporting electric and hybrid vehicles from China to Mexico.

A cargo vessel carrying more than 3,000 electric and hybrid vehicles from China to Mexico has caught fire in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Alaska. All 22 crew members evacuated unharmed aboard a lifeboat and were rescued by a nearby merchant vessel.

An estimated 750 electric and hybrid vehicles were among the 3000 on board the vessel at the time.

The Liberian-flagged and UK-managed Morning Midas sent a distress call on Tuesday afternoon while approximately 300 miles (490km) southwest of Adak Island, according to the US Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard requested assistance from three nearby merchant vessels and dispatched several of its own ships and aircraft to the site of the incident.

Apart from its cargo, the ship is estimated to have approximately 1,900 metric tons of fuel onboard.

The authorities had decided to allow the fire to burn out and not attempt to extinguish it due to the risks posed by the lithium-ion batteries in the vehicles on board, according to Alaska Coast Guard spokeswoman, Petty Officer First Class Shannon Kearney, as quoted by the New York Times.

The battery type can cause an explosion and also produce toxic gases if it catches fire.

Zodiac Maritime, the company managing the cargo ship, said in a statement that the blaze started at around 00:00 UTC on June 3.

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Source:RT News

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3 COMMENTS

  1. BAWHAWHAWHAWHAW….
    Imagine lithium-powered Tesla cars being shipped to Mars and then catching fire in space while enroute to the Musk’s ‘Red Planet’…!
    The foreseeable future?
    EV’s will now longer be shipped due to the fire hazards and insurance liabilities.
    Lloyds of London is fully aware of this.
    3 months ago an EV’s lithium-ion battery shorted & caught fire on an auto transport.
    That fire led to igniting other vehicles in the compartment.
    Then, the ship itself caught on fire as a result of…’cause & effect’…!
    The ship sank carrying all fire-consumed EV’s with it.
    But, at least the crew didn’t have to worry about calling a fire brigade, where 18,000 litres of water are used just to put the fire out on a single vehicle.
    That job was done when the ship sank…
    But the morons who purchase these dangerous vehicles do not understand that when the grid goes down, so do their cars…that is IF they are not burning in their attached garages, or lit-off via cell tower frequency modulators….
    And yet, no one has looked at replacing the Lithium-Ion batteries with Nickel-Cadmium batteries, with have been used on aircraft for over 70 years and no incidents of spontaneous combustion, shorting, or overheating and exploding!

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