FREMANTLE Highway has arrived at the Dutch port of Eemshaven, scorched but no longer ablaze.
The ro-ro vessel caught fire on 25 July while underway off the Netherlands and burned for days. It was carrying almost 3800 cars, 498 of them electric vehicles.
Charterer K Line wrote on Thursday that salvors who boarded the ship on 1 August confirmed the fire was extinguished.
“It was decided to tow the vessel to the port of Eemshaven, following which an investigation into the cause of the accident will be conducted in co-operation with the authorities and relevant parties,” it wrote in an update.
Reuters reported safety experts remained on board for a 64-kilometre tow through “difficult weather”.
“Most of the ship has now been inspected and there are no indications that there is still fire on board,” Dutch Ministry of Public Works and Water Management said (quoted by Reuters).
One seafarer died in the fire, and the 22 other personnel on board were taken to hospital, some of them injured as they jumped overboard.
Updates from K Line suggest only the captain and the pilot remained in hospital after 30 July, but the pilot was discharged on 2 August. The captain was still in hospital on 3 August.
“As charterer of the vessel, we wish him a safe and swift recovery,” K Line wrote.
