A large Taiwan-owned cargo ship with a fire in its hold is being kept 3.22km offshore of an Alaska port as a precaution while efforts are undertaken to extinguish the flames, the US Coast Guard said on Saturday.
There were no injuries to the 19 crew members aboard the Genius Star XI, which was carrying a load of lithium-ion batteries across the Pacific Ocean, from Vietnam to San Diego, the guard’s Alaska district said in a release.
The fire started on Christmas Day in cargo hold No. 1, a spokesperson for the ship owner, Taipei-based Wisdom Marine Group, said in a statement.
Photo: Lieutenant Commander Michael Salerno / US Coast Guard via AP
The crew released carbon dioxide into the hold and sealed it over concerns of an explosion, and ship personnel alerted the coast guard early on Thursday about the fire, it said.
The coast guard said it diverted the 125m cargo ship to Dutch Harbor, one of the nation’s busiest fishing ports in Unalaska, an Aleutian Islands community about 1,287km southwest of Anchorage.
The ship on Friday arrived, but an order preventing the Genius Star XI from going close to shore was issued to “mitigate risks associated with burning lithium-ion batteries or toxic gasses produced by the fire,” US Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Mike Salerno said in an e-mail.
“The city’s primary concern is protecting the health and safety of our community members, the environment, fisheries and commerce,” Unalaska Acting City Manager Marjie Veeder said in a statement.
“The safety of Unalaska residents and the surrounding communities is a top priority for us, so as a precaution we are keeping a one-mile [1.61km] safety zone around the vessel,” Salerno said.
A team of marine firefighting experts late on Friday conducted an assessment of the ship and found no signs of structural deformation or blistering outside of the cargo hold, the coast guard said.
That team remains on board the ship to evaluate the situation, Salerno said.
The Genius Star XI left Vietnam on Dec. 10 en route to Dutch Harbor, the MarineTraffic Web site shows.
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