The cargo ship carrying thousands of VWs and Porsches from Germany to the U.S. that caught fire almost two weeks ago off the Azores just sank in the Atlantic.
The 650-foot Felicity Ace was battered by waves and “lost stability and sank,” according to the Portuguese Navy, while it was being towed by a large salvage tugboat. The ship sank 253 nm off the Azores on Tuesday morning. It tilted about 45 degrees to starboard, and then went down in more than 9,000 feet of water.
The Felicity Ace was carrying 3,965 new cars from the Volkswagen Group from the Port of Emden on the North Sea, where Volkswagen has a factory, to Davisville, Rhode Island. The cars included thousands of new Volkswagens and Audis, 1,100 Porsches, 189 Bentleys, and a handful of Lamborghinis, all part of the Volkswagen Group.
A Portuguese Navy helicopter rescued all 22 members of the crew without any injuries after a fire engulfed the ship on Feb. 16.The cars included some new electric model VWs with lithium batteries. The cause of the fire has not been determined, but the lithium batteries helped fuel the fire when they exploded.
After the crew was evacuated, the Felicity Ace was left burning and adrift for several days until a salvage crew arrived by helicopter. The fire ended, and the salvage tugboat had started towing the ship to “a safe area” off the Azores. The cars on board were said to be worth more than $400 million.
The Portuguese Navy said there was some wreckage at the site; tug boats were breaking up oily residue with water cannons. The area is home to sperm whales, blue whales, humpback whales, dolphins and sharks. Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/world/europe/ship-sinks-luxury-cars.html
