Ship Carrying 2,500 Cars Burning Off Alaska Coast

A freighter carrying 2,500 Japanese cars to Los Angeles burned out of control off the coast of Alaska today, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said.

The Coast Guard Cutter Munro was dispatched to the scene 500 miles south of Unalaska Island in the Aleutians where the 24-man crew of the 524-foot Coral Ace battled the fire.

Mike Hilley, a spokesman in the Coast Guard’s Juneau office, said the ship did not appear to be in danger of sinking. The cutter was not expected to arrive before 10 p.m. Alaska time.

The Coral Ace’s crew refused to leave the 500-foot ship and pumped sea water on the flames after fresh water and firefighting foam were exhausted, the Coast Guard said.

The fire had not been controlled, but was weakening, the spokesman said. “We do have language problems.”

The Panamanian-registered ship was listing about 3 degrees, possibly “due to all the water they’ve been using and all the water the vessel has taken on, or it could be due to a cargo shift. It could be anything,” Coast Guard spokesman Allen Sparks said. So far, however, the position of the ship was “not too bad,” he said.

The ship stopped off Unalaska Island when flames broke out Tuesday, Hilley said. The origin of the fire was not immediately known.

The flames probably caused damage to some of the cars because the fire reached a cargo section toward the front of the vessel, Hilley said.

A Liberian vessel, the Prosper World, was standing by to rescue the crew if the fire worsened, Hilley said. The Liberian ship replaced the Kico Maru, a Japanese freighter that had been waiting to render assistance if necessary.