Crew Members Leave Behind Millions of Dollars Worth of Cargo After Abandoning Ship
Some of the goods on the abandoned cargo ship include luxury cars from Porsche, Bentley and Audi.
An abandoned cargo ship is currently floating in the Atlantic Ocean after it caught on fire and forced the crew to evacuate. The ship, called Felicity Ace, holds thousands of cars from Volkswagen Auto Group — including luxury cars from Porsche, Bentley and Audi.
"While it remains too early to confirm what occurred and next steps, we are – along with our colleagues at Porsche AG – supporting our customers and our dealers as best we can to find solutions," Angus Fitton, vice president of PR at Porsche Cars North America, told CNN Business. "We are in contact with the shipping company and the details of the cars on board are now known."
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A Thursday statement from Porsche Cars North America revealed that 1,100 of the company's cars were on board. Automotive site The Drive reported that nearly 4,000 Volkswagen Group Vehicles are on board in total, including 189 Bentleys and an unspecified number of Audis. Authorities have not released complete details about the cargo on the 656 foot-long ship, though the ship can carry more than 18,700 tons of cargo.
According to the Portuguese Navy, the ship was sailing 100 miles southwest of the Azores islands when the fire started on Wednesday. Portuguese forces then evacuated all 22 crew members and safely took them to a local hotel.
The cargo ship departed from Emden, Germany on February 10 and is now set to dock in the United States on February 23.
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