19 Feb Ship carrying hundreds of Porsches and Bentleys catches fire near Azores
A ship carrying Porsches, Audis and Bentleys from Germany to the United States has caught fire near the coast of Portugal’s Azores islands in the Atlantic ocean.
A spokesperson for carmaker Volkswagen confirmed the blaze. The Panama-flagged ship was travelling from Emden in Germany, where Volkswagen has a factory, to Davisville in the United States.
The full crew of were evacuated on Wednesday 17th February, and nobody has been confirmed as being hurt.
Around 1,100 Porsches and 189 Bentleys were on board. Audi, another Volkswagen brand, confirmed some of its vehicles were also on board but did not state how many. It has not been confirmed if the vehicles have been damaged, and how badly. Volkswagen did not confirm the total number of cars on board and said it was awaiting further information.
A picture shared by the Portuguese maritime authority on its website on Wednesday showed clouds of smoke billowing from ship.
The captain of Horta port on the Azorean island of Faial told Portuguese news agency Lusa on Thursday night that the fire was still active but being kept under control.
Azorean authorities were not immediately available for comment.