$335 Million In Luxury Cars Lost After Cargo Ship Sinks In Atlantic Ocean
Two weeks after catching fire, a cargo ship carrying a variety of luxury cars has finally sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
It was first reported in mid February that the liner had caught fire while on the open sea. The ship was “sailing 90 nautical miles southwest of Faial island in Portugal's Azores region,” PEOPLE notes, when the fire first broke out.
When the flames couldn’t be contained, the crew had to call for back-up to come evacuate them, leaving the burning ship in the water. The Portuguese Navy was able to rescue all 22 crew members without any injuries.
The ship, known as Felicity Ann, had left from Germany. It was travelling to the United States and was less than a week away from arriving in Davisville, Rhode Island.
As per CNN, the ship was carrying over 4,000 vehicles, including a mix of electric and non-electric luxury models from brands such as Audi, Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini, and Volkswagen.
Porsche has released a statement confirming 1,100 of the cars were theirs. Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, Inc., told Associated Press that dealerships are getting in touch with customers who will be impacted by the ship’s sinking.
“We are already working to replace every car affected by this incident and the first new cars will be built soon,” he stated.
It’s unclear how much the total value of the sunken cars are, but it’s estimated to be in the hundreds of millions. Some of the cars onboard included Lamborghini’s Aventador models, which is one of its most expensive cars priced at $400,000. CNN estimates the total cost of the cars on board to have been around $335 million.
An exact cause of the fire hasn’t been determined, but it’s believed that a lithium battery commonly used in electric cars may have caught fire.
Right now, experts are concerned about pollution from the sinking ship and how it may impact the ocean environment. Associated Press reports that the ship had over 2,200 tons of fuel and 2,200 tons of oil aboard. In total, it had over 18,700 tons of cargo on board, which is now at the bottom of the sea.
The outlet notes that, according to a statement from the Portuguese Navy, only a small part of the wreckage was visible after the ship completely sunk. Though there was a small oil patch, tugboats did their best to break it up with hoses to mitigate the environmental impact.
For now, the Portuguese Air Force and Navy continues to monitor the area where the boat sank for further signs of pollution.
Sources: PEOPLE Magazine, Associated Press, CNN,
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