Firefighters, Additional Crew Members Board ZIM Kingston Overnight

A Tuesday morning update from the Canadian Coast Guard said six firefighters were able to board the Zim Kingston overnight, as well as seven additional crew from the ship. “The Salvage Master and team will assess the situation today and estimate it may take several days to fully suppress smoldering and fires inside the containers,” the update said.

By David Ljunggren (Reuters) – Bad weather off Canada’s Pacific Coast on Monday prevented a salvage crew from boarding a cargo ship where several containers of chemicals burned over the weekend, the coast guard said.

Sixteen crew members were evacuated from the MV Zim Kingston on Saturday. Five remained onboard to fight the fire, which was largely under control by late Sunday.

The company has appointed a salvage crew “but due to the current weather, (they) have been unable to board the container ship”, the coast guard said on Twitter.

“The containers continue to smolder and boundary cooling – spraying water on the hull and on containers near the fire – continues,” it added.

The ship is anchored several kilometers (miles) off the southern coast of Vancouver Island, in the province of British Columbia. There is no impact to human health, the coast guard said.

Danaos Shipping Co, the company that manages the ship, said on Sunday that no injuries had been reported on board. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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This article contains reporting from Reuters, published under license.

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