Fire-wrecked cargo ship carrying thousands of luxury cars sinks after floating in Atlantic for weeks

The Atlantic has claimed Felicity Ace, the massive ship with thousands of luxury cars aboard, almost two weeks after the burning vessel captured worldwide attention.

After days of efforts to salvage the abandoned cargo ship that was adrift in the Atlantic Ocean, the 656 foot-long vessel submerged near Azores Islands at around 9am local time on Tuesday, the Portuguese navy said in a statement.

“This morning, during the towing process, which had begun on Feb 24, the ship ‘Felicity Ace’ lost stability and sank some 25 nautical miles outside of the limits of Portugal’s exclusive economic zone, in an area with a depth of about [9,842 feet],” the Navy said in Portuguese.

The Felicity Ace vessel was holding an estimated $401m (£295m) worth of cars, including Porsches, Audis, Bentleys and Lamborghinis, when it caught fire on 16 February and began to drift not far from the Azores.

The 22-person crew of the smoke-billowing vessel was evacuated safely with the help of commercial ships and helicopters as the blaze raged on for days. It was extinguished on 25 February and a salvage team attempted to tow the boat back to land to salvage what was remaining.

The spokesperson for the ship operated by Japanese shipping line Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) said the vessel was battling harsh seas before it sunk. But it is not known if the sinking was caused due to weather.

“The weather was pretty rough out there,” Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for the Felicity Ace’s operator, MOL Ship Management, said to Bloomberg. “And then she sank, which was a surprise.”

The navy said “some debris and a small stain of oily waste” were discovered on the site where it sank. The remains are being dispersed by tugboats and are being monitored by the Department of Pollution of the National Maritime Authority and by European Maritime Security Agency (EMSA) amid concerns by environmentalists over the potential damage to marine life.

The ship was en route to Rhode Island from Germany, carrying about 2,200 tons of fuel and 2,200 tons of oil along with other materials such as metallic parts, plastics, electrical wires and paint.

European carmakers have declined to discuss how many vehicles and what models were onboard, but Porsche customers in the US were being contacted by their dealers, the company said.

“We are already working to replace every car affected by this incident and the first new cars will be built soon,” Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, told The Associated Press in an email.

The reason for the massive fire at the vessel is not known, but it is suspected that lithium batteries used in electric vehicles might have caused it. However, officials say they have no firm evidence about the cause.

Cameron Batten, chief communications officer for Volkswagen Group of America, said nearly 4,000 Volkswagen Group cars were onboard the ill-fated vessel, and it included 1,100 Porsches and 200 Bentleys.