Coast Guard says fire aboard cargo ship near Victoria largely out, containers still drifting off Vancouver Island
The Canadian Coast Guard on Sunday afternoon said a fire burning on board a cargo ship anchored off the coast of Vancouver Island, near Victoria, B.C., had been largely extinguished.
Dozen of containers, several of which contained hazardous chemicals used in mining, caught fire aboard the 260-metre-long M/V Zim Kingston on Saturday, prompting an emergency response roughly eight kilometers offshore.
“What they were attempting to do, is let the fire burn down,” said JJ Brickett, the federal incident commander for the Coast Guard.
“In other words, (let) the container consume itself with the fuel, while keeping everything around it cool,” Brickett added.
The Coast Guard evacuated 16 crew members on Saturday night, while another five remained onboard to fight the fire.
There are no reports of any injuries.
In a statement, the company that manages the Zim Kingston, Danaos Shipping Co., which is based in Greece, said the fire appeared “to have been contained.”
“Danaos have commissioned a Salvage & Fire Extinguishing Agency to come on board in order to ensure that conditions are appropriate for the safe return of the vessel’s crew,” the statement read.
Brickett said the ship’s owner so far had acted “responsibly.”
In a tweet Sunday morning, the Coast Guard detailed some of the challenges with the firefight, which lasted more than 24 hours.
“Due to the nature of the chemicals onboard the (ship), applying water directly to the fire is not an option,” the Coast Guard said, adding that it was expanding the emergency zone around the ship from one to two nautical miles.
According to officials, two of the burning containers contain potassium amyl xanthate.
A publically available safety data sheet from Redux, a chemical and ingredients distributor based in Australia, describes the material as a “spontaneously combustible solid” and warned that closed containers could explode from heat of a fire.
The safety sheet also added that cargo should not be moved if exposed to heat, firefighters should stay upwind, and firefighting water should not be allowed to reach waterways, drains, or sewers.
Zachary Scher, the provincial incident commander for the B.C. Ministry of the Environment said with the flames largely extinguished and smoke dissipating, “There’s no concern of harm to islanders from the fire.”
Sunday morning, David Boudinot, president of the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit coastal protection organization, told CTV News he was worried about the potential for an environmental disaster along the shoreline.
“We are hoping that…the ship is able to be salvaged in a way we can have a good outcome,” Boudinot said.
Coast Guard officials said Sunday the ship would likely remain in place for at least the next day, with hazardous material firefighting experts to board and inspect the ship Monday at the earliest.
The vessel is anchored in a place called Constance Bank, directly south of Victoria, and to the east of Metchosin and Sooke.
Early Friday morning, the same ship lost 40 containers “when extreme weather caused an excessive listing,” according to a statement from Danaos.
The company said it appears the fire sparked in other containers that were damaged, but remained on board.
On Saturday, the Coast Guard indicated it was broadcasting warnings to mariners as it tracked the containers, which were some 22 kilometres off the coast of Vancouver Island, near Bamfield.
As of Sunday afternoon, Brickett said the seacans were some 50 kilometres west of the island, tracking parallel to the shore.
“None of our trajectories right now have any of those containers grounding,” he said, adding that it would be difficult to try to recover them with a significant storm blowing ashore over Sunday and Monday.
Brickett said that at least two of the 40 containers also contain toxic material.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'
Ukraine uses long-range missiles secretly provided by U.S. to hit Russian-held areas, officials say
Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials said Wednesday.