Ship caught fire Feb 16th, with all hands escaping safely
Sinking happened Tuesday morning after a sharp list
Nearly two weeks after it first caught fire and was abandoned by its crew, the ship full of Porsches, Lamborghinis, and other VW Group vehicles has finally capsized and sunk. That’s according to a statement issued by MOL Ship Management earlier today.
The large car carrier Felicity Ace was transporting approximately 2,500 vehicles from the port in Emden Germany to Davisville, Rhode Island. It caught fire on February 16th, at which point the decision was made to evacuate the crew and abandon the ship. All crew members were reportedly evacuated without injury and transported to the Azores, the nearest land to the stricken vessel.
According to the last statement from the ship’s management company, made February 25th, a salvage team had boarded the Felicity Ace by helicopter and the ship was being towed to “a safe area off of the Azores.”
At a spot approximately 250 miles from the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean, the ship suffered a list to starboard, the management company said in a statement today. Reports indicated heavy seas in the area at the time.
“The weather was pretty rough out there,” Pat Adamson, MOL Ship Management spokesman, said to Bloomberg. “And then she sank, which was a surprise.”
The vessel sank in around 3,000 m of water and the Portuguese Navy is monitoring the situation.
The cause of the fire was undetermined.
