Some Rolls-Royce exclusives present on ship that burned off the Dutch coast

Luxury carmaker Rolls-Royce has confirmed that the ship that burnt off the Dutch coast had a small number of its exclusive cars aboard. The OEM is now informing the affected clients personally, a spokesperson of the company informed Bloomberg. Apart from Rolls-Royce, luxury carmakers such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW had several hundreds of their vehicles abroard the Fremantle Highway.

The ship had a total of 3,783 cars and construction vehicles, including 498 electric ones, on board. The ship caught fire a week ago which has now gone off, the Dutch ministry coordinating salvage efforts confirmed to AP. Latest pictures show that no smoke was billowing out of the ship, which is anchored 16 kilometers north of the Dutch islands of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland.

The recovery companies are working out a plan of action for towing the freighter to its final location and salvaging it. The ship had a crew of 21, all Indian nationals, and two other people on board. While all others were evacuated, one crew member died. Others got severely injured; they suffered broken bones, burns and breathing problems. They were immediately rushed to hospitals in the northern Netherlands.

The Fremantle Highway had set sail from the German port of Bremerhaven, carrying cars from brands like Mercedes and BMW, to reach its destination at the Port Said in Egypt. It isn't yet clear how the ship caught fire and how did the death of the crew member occur. The presence of electric vehicles on the ship could be one of the reasons for fire but it is surely the reason that is making it difficult to stop the fire.

The ship fire was not immediately doused off using waterdue to the fear of making the nearly 200-meter ship unstable as it floated close to North Sea shipping lanes and a world-renowned migratory bird habitat.

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