See It: Morning Midas Car Carrier Ship Burns Off Alaska As U.S. Coast Guard Responds
The U.S. Coast Guard responded to a cargo ship that caught fire about 300 miles from Adak, Alaska, on Wednesday.
The Morning Midas was en route from China to Mexico carrying more than 3,000 automobiles.
Several photos of the ship have been released along with new information about the situation.
CAR-GO
The Morning Midas was carrying 3,048 vehicles including 70 electric vehicles and 681 hybrids, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but the presence of the electric vehicles raised concerns as battery fires can be difficult to extinguish. The vehicles are primarily from the Chery and Great Wall Motor brands, according to Reuters.
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EVERYONE IS FINE
There were 22 crewmembers aboard the 600-meter long roll-on, roll-off carrier who abandoned ship using a life boat and were rescued by the Cosco Hellas cargo ship, which was one of several good Samaritan ships that responded to the distress calls.
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RESCUE SHIP
The USCG is coordinating with the ships management company, Zodiac Maritime, in the efforts to recover the ship. Anchorage, Alaska, is approximately 1,200 miles from the scene of the incident. The fire had not been brought under control at the time this story was published.
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DEJA VU
A similar fire involving a cargo ship carrying electric vehicles occurred in the North Sea in 2023 that resulted in one death, but the ship was recovered. The cause of the fire remains unknown, but it began in a section of the ship away from the electric vehicles. In 2022, the Felicity Ace sank in the Atlantic Ocean near The Azores with approximately 4,000 vehicles on board, including several EVs, after a fire of unknown origins damaged the ship.