Fire on Grimaldi Group car carrier Grande Europa extinguished
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Spanish emergency services have largely put out a fire aboard a vehicle transport ship off the island of Mallorca after some of the crew were airlifted to safety earlier on Wednesday.
The Sea Rescue Society posted a short video on Twitter showing fire ships spraying water over a small section of the covered upper decks of the Italian-flagged “Grande Europa”, which had been blackened by the flames, but had no smoke or fire coming out of it.
Fifteen of the 25 crew of Grimaldi Lines’ Grande Europa were taken off the 183-metre vessel by helicopter before the blaze was brought under control around midday. The remainder stayed behind to tackle the blaze.
15 tripulantes del buque Car Carrier #GrandeEuropa evacuados en buen estado por el helicóptero Helimer 205 (25 millas al Sur de Palma) tras sufrir un incendio a bordo, prácticamente extinguido por 3 embarcaciones de @salvamentogob y por el sistema contraincendios del buque pic.twitter.com/a8BarSxgjQ
— SALVAMENTO MARÍTIMO (@salvamentogob) May 15, 2019
“No one was hurt,” a spokeswoman for the services told AFP. “We do not know the cause,” of the fire which started when the ship was 25 nautical miles off Majorca, she said.
The fire on the 51,714 GT ship has been brought under control by three fire fighting ships.
The Vessel Finder website said Grande Europa sailed from Salerno, southwestern Italy, on Tuesday evening heading for Valencia on the Spanish mainland.
