Dylan Bettencourt
Disaster struck twice for the cargo ship Felicity Ace: first it caught fire on 16 February, and then on Tuesday it hit stormy weather and sank to the bottom of the ocean.The ship went down about 400 kilometres from the Portuguese island of the Azores, and the 4,000-odd luxury cars it was carrying – including Porsches, Bentleys and Lamborghinis – went down with it.
The ship was reported to have taken on water and was listing to one side, according to a statement from its operators.
“The weather was pretty rough out there. And then she sank, which was a surprise,” Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for the Felicity Ace’s operator, MOL Ship Management, told Bloomberg.
Everyone on board managed to safely escape the vessel before it sank.
Before it went down, the Japan-based owners Mitsui O.S.K. Lines transportation company said on 25 February that the ship was stable, with salvage crews boarding the ship in an attempt to rescue the cargo.
The company said that they were making use of a salvage vessel to move the ship to a safe area around the Azores Island.
Luck was not on the side of the vessel, who less than a month previously had its first brush with disaster.
It caught fire on 16 February while en route to Emden in Germany. Although it remains unclear how the fire started, it raged for several days before it was brought under control on 25 February.
All crew members on board were evacuated without injury as the fire spread and the ship was abandoned.
The spread of the fire is said to have been quickened by electric cars catching fire, as their batteries are extremely flammable.
Ecologists have raised concerns that the disaster will damage the ocean’s ecosystem, which is home to tuna, sharks, dolphins as well as several coral reefs.
The ship was carrying 2,200 tons of fuel and a further 2,200 tons of oil alongside other harmful waste such as plastic, electric wires and paint.
Image source: @AutoEvolution
