VANCOUVER, Canada (AP) – A fire affecting multiple containers on a cargo ship off British Columbia appeared to have been extinguished Sunday, the Canadian Coast Guard reported.
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The coast guard said it received a report on Saturday morning that a fire had broken out in 10 damaged containers aboard the MV Zim Kingston, which is anchored about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Victoria, the provincial capital. , and that two of the burning containers contain potassium amyl xanthate, a hazardous material.
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“Most of the fire has been put out,” JJ Brickett, federal incident commander for the Canadian Coast Guard, said during a conference call Sunday. “We still see it smoking.”
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The Coast Guard noted that the crew refrained from spraying cold water directly on the flames because the containers held hazardous material. The emergency perimeter around the Zim Kingston had been doubled to 3.6 kilometers (2 nautical miles).
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Brickett said it was “a really good sign” that there were no signs of damage to the adjacent containers.
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“Presumably, everything inside these containers has been consumed by the flames,” he said. “There are still embers from the fire, and we continue to cool both sides.”
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The Victoria Joint Rescue and Coordination Center reported that 16 crew members were evacuated from the vessel, while another five, including the captain, remain on board because they requested to stay.
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The Coast Guard indicated that a Vancouver hazardous materials crew was already involved in the matter, and that the owner of the Zim Kingston had hired Resolve Marine Group, an American company, for a rescue mission that included fighting the fire and recovering The containers.
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“No injuries were reported. The fire appears to have been contained, ”Danaos Shipping Co., the company that operates the vessel, previously said in an emailed statement.
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Brickett said the U.S. Coast Guard deployed a tracking buoy to monitor 40 containers that fell from the Zim Kingston on Friday while sailing in rough waters, and are currently floating about 50 kilometers (27 nautical miles) off the island’s west coast. from Vancouver.
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Two of those containers were carrying “material that could be of concern to us,” Brickett said, adding that “none of our trajectories at this time has any of those containers reaching land.”
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Work to recover the containers could not begin until the end of a storm, which is forecast to worsen through Monday, authorities said.
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Brickett added that the ship’s owners “have been very responsible” and acted appropriately in hiring the proper resources. It is still too early to point out the causes of the fire or if it was related to the fall of the containers, he said.
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“Our first priority is to stabilize the scene, put out the flames,” he said.
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