A large cargo ship with a fire in its hold is being kept 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) offshore of an Alaska port as a precaution while efforts are undertaken to extinguish the flames, the U.S. Coast Guard said 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 ship owner Wisdom Marine Group said in a statement. The crew released carbon dioxide into the hold and sealed it over concerns of an explosion.
Ship’s personnel alerted the Coast Guard early Thursday morning about the fire. The Coast Guard said it diverted the 410-foot (125-meter) cargo ship to Dutch Harbor, one of the nation’s busiest fishing ports located in Unalaska, an Aleutian Islands community about 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage.
“It’s been towed beyond the environment.”
An expert hired by the Taipei, Taiwan-based Wisdom Marine Group “is working diligently to create contingency plans, arrange for a firefighting team, and ensure the necessary equipment is in place,’ the group said in a statement.
Yeah right. They’re frantically trying to figure out how to dump the container overboard and whether the penalties would cost less than losing the boats cargo.
Who tf decided to ship burning batteries lmao
They were being sent to Springfield to upgrade and modernize the Tire Fire
I’m sorry it was a fire sale, I couldn’t resist.
I will admit I misunderstood what they meant with the “fire” part of the sale.
The crew released carbon dioxide into the hold
Apparently some larger airliners have a similar mechanism for the cargo hold of the aircraft. The system is sometimes referred to as “the puppy snuffer” :(
The “puppy snuffer” is the cargo heat outflow valve. Cargo isn’t heated unless needed, for example where the manifest says there’s animals there. It has nothing to do with fire suppression systems.
But no one should be flying with their pets anyways. Get a sitter, or if you’re moving forever, drive there. Even if moving across the ocean, I’d rather spend over a week on a boat (or even give my dog up to someone else) than subject him all alone to the stress of an airplane’s cargo hold.
Eh? My wife flew from the PNW to France with our cat when we moved. She gave her half a dose of the veterinarian prescribed knockout juice and she was completely fine. Of course, she wasn’t in the hold, but still.
If your pet is small enough it can fly in the cabin, as long as it’s in a soft crate.
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Really seems like something they should have had plans for before insurance would let them ship the batteries.
