Joseph Bonney, Senior Editor | Jul 23, 2012 10:57AM EDT
Firefighters continue to battle a fire on the MSC Flaminia as the abandoned container ship is being towed from the mid-Atlantic toward Europe.
Reederei NSB, the ship’s German owner, said firefighting efforts could take weeks.
The ship was being towed to port by Fairmount Marine’s firefighting tug Fairmount Expedition while another firefighting tug, the Anglian Sovereign, sprayed water on the fire. A third firefighting tug also was on hand.
A party of four salvage specialists managed to reactivate the MSC Flaminia’s firefighting system, which was being used to cool the area in front of the ship’s superstructure. The superstructure and engine room reportedly were not damaged.
Reederei NSB said the ship was listing by eight to 10 degrees because of the water poured on the fire and the damaged cargo.
The vessel’s owner said the ship’s holds 4, 5 and 6 were “demolished” by the fire, which broke out in hold 4 on July 14 while the ship was about 1,000 miles from the U.K., en route from Charleston to Antwerp.
One crewmember died from burns, a second seaman is missing and three remain hospitalized. Eighteen crewmembers and two passengers escaped injury. They were rescued from lifeboats and arrived at Falmouth, England, early Thursday aboard the tanker DS Crown.
The MSC Flaminia, an 11-year-old ship with capacity of 6,732 20-foot equivalent units of containers, reportedly was carrying 2,876 containers.
Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JosephBonney.
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