A burnt-out cargo ship carrying $400 million worth of Lamborghinis, Porsches and other luxury vehicles has sunk two weeks after it caught fire on a transatlantic journey to the United States.
Despite efforts to save it, the Felicity Ace finally went down near the Azores Islands about 9 a.m. local time Tuesday, according to a press release from the Portuguese navy.
“This morning, during the towing process, which had begun on Feb. 24, the ship ‘Felicity Ace’ lost stability and sank some 25 nautical miles outside of the limits of Portugal’s exclusive economic zone, in an area with a depth of about [9,842 feet],” the navy said.
The 650-foot-long vessel, operated by Japanese shipping line Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), initially caught fire on Feb. 16. It was hauling 4,000 Volkswagen Group cars — including W, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini-branded models from Germany to Rhode Island at the time, The Washington Post reported.
Authorities tried to extinguish the blaze, but to no avail — it burned for more than a week after the crew was forced to abandon the ship, all of who were ultimately rescued.
On Friday, the navy said “no fires on the outside or inside, although there is a high temperature in the central area, with no smoke in its structure.” The same day, MOL Ship Management said “the vessel has started being towed by the large salvage craft ‘Bear’ to a safe area off Azores.”
What exactly sparked the fire remains is still unknown.
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