A fire on board a freight ship carrying nearly 3,000 cars was burning out of control in the North Sea on Wednesday, the Dutch coast guard said.
One crew member died, with several others injured, and officials are working to save the vessel from sinking close to an important habitat for migratory birds.
Boats and helicopters were used to get the 23 crew members off the ship after they tried unsuccessfully to put out the blaze, the coast guard said in a statement.
Some of the crew jumped off the ship’s deck into the sea and were picked up by a lifeboat, the lifeboat’s captain told Dutch broadcaster NOS.
Some suffered broken bones, burns and breathing problems and were taken to hospitals in the northern Netherlands, emergency services said.
“Currently there are a lot of vessels on scene to monitor the situation and to see how to get the fire under control,” coast guard spokeswoman Lea Versteeg told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.
“But it’s all depending on weather and the damage to the vessel, so we’re currently working out how we can make sure that … the least bad situation is going to happen.”
Asked if it is possible the ship could sink, Ms Versteeg said: “It’s a scenario we’re taking into account and we’re preparing for all scenarios.”
By early afternoon, two ships were alongside the freighter hosing down its sides in an attempt to cool them, the coast guard said, but firefighters were still unable to attempt to extinguish flames on the ship and smoke was billowing out of its hold.
The Fremantle Highway was sailing from the German port of Bremenhaven to Singapore when it caught fire some 17 miles (27km) north of the Dutch island of Ameland.
The location is close to a chain of Dutch and German islands popular with tourists in the shallow Wadden Sea, a World Heritage-listed area described by Unesco as “the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world” and “one of the most important areas for migratory birds in the world”.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately known, and it was not clear how the crew member’s death occurred.
Ms Versteeg said: “It’s carrying cars – 2,857, of which 25 are electrical cars, which made the fire even more difficult. It’s not easy to keep that kind of fire under control and even in such a vessel it’s not easy.”
The ship’s Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha, said it was working in cooperation with the local authorities of the Netherlands, a salvage company and a ship management company.
“We will keep on endeavouring to extinguish the fire and recover the situation as soon as possible,” the company said. “There is no information on oil pollution due to this incident as of now.”
The company expressed “sincere condolence” for the death of the crew member.
Images taken from shore showed a long plume of grey smoke drifting over the sea from the stricken ship.
One towing ship managed to establish a connection with the freighter to hold it in place.
Ms Versteeg went on: “We hope that the fire will be under control or will die out and that we can get the vessel in a safe location, but it’s all uncertain what’s going to happen now.”
The coast guard said in a statement that salvage companies and water authorities are “looking at the best ways to limit the damage as much as possible”.
Authorities in Germany were also on alert, German news agency dpa reported.
“We are monitoring the situation,” a spokesman for the German sea disaster command in the northern city of Cuxhaven said, adding that they have offered support to the Dutch authorities.
He said rescue ships and task forces are ready to help if needed, but that no decision has been made on whether to send them.
