THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Rescue crews have begun towing a Burning freighter Authorities said they loaded thousands of vehicles to a temporary mooring site off the northern Dutch coast on Sunday, after smoke cleared from the stricken ship.
The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management said on Saturday evening that the Fremantle Highway was unlikely to be moved due to a southeasterly wind blowing smoke from a days-old fire over the tugboats.
But that changed on Sunday.
“Smoke from the freighter receded significantly this afternoon, and the Multraship/Smit Salvage salvage group immediately took advantage of this,” the ministry said in a statement, referring to two salvage companies involved in the operation.
The ship was slowly towed by two tugboats to a temporary mooring point about 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of the Dutch islands of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland.
The ministry added that experts are constantly monitoring the ship’s stability and that a specialized boat used to clean oil is nearby in case of a spill.
Rescue teams eventually want to tow the stricken ship to a port, but it is not yet clear where and when that will happen.
On Saturday, the crew connected a second towing cable to the ship, which was transporting 3,783 new vehicles, including 498 electric cars, from the German port of Bremerhaven to Singapore.
The ship has been burning since Tuesday. Firefighters decided not to douse the flames with water for fear of making the 200-metre (219 yd) long ship unstable as it floats near shipping lanes in the North Sea and Home of world famous migratory birds.
One crew member died and others were injured after the fire broke out. The crew was evacuated in the early hours of Wednesday.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
