Two weeks after catching fire, a mammoth ship that was transporting thousands of luxury cars sank on Tuesday morning about 253 miles off the Azores, according to the company that managed the vessel.
The ship went down at about 9 a.m. local time, plunging about 4,000 cars into the sea, according to the company.
Environmental groups were concerned that the ship would sink and cause pollution in the Azores, where the sea is covered with coral reefs, coral forests and sponges.
According to Oceana, the area is home to sperm whales, blue whales, humpback whales, dolphins and sharks.
Oceana says that a large vessel like the Felicity Ace can hold more than three million liters of heavy fuel and oil. Electrical wires, paint and plastic are some of the pollutants in a boat.
Six days after leaving Emden, Germany, for the port of Davisville in Rhode Island, a fire broke out in the ship's cargo hold. MOL Ship Management did not say how the fire started.
The ship's crew members were rescued by a helicopter. No one was hurt during the event.
The 650 feet long Felicity Ace billowed smoke and was adrift off the shore of Western Europe.
Several attempts were made to extinguish the fire and assess the damage to the vessel.
The Portuguese Navy shared photos of the vessel being consumed by smoke. One photo shows a small boat spraying water. The midsection of the ship was badly damaged.
A team of experts arrived by helicopter the day before, the Portuguese Navy said on Friday. MOL said that a large tugboat was towing the Felicity Ace to a safe area off the Azores.
The Navy said at the time that the ship has no fires on the outside or inside, but there is a high temperature in the central area.
According to the Portuguese Navy, the ship lost its stability and sank as it was being towed.
A small patch of oily gunk was visible and was being dispersed by the water jets of the tugboats, the Navy said. The Navy said in a statement that the area was being monitored.
A spokesman for the company expressed relief that the members of the crew were safe and well and that the company was supporting their customers.
The first cars will be built soon, but Mr. Fitton did not say when that would be.
The editor of The Smoking Tire is a car enthusiast.
He had been waiting for the car since August and had a retail price of about $123,000.
Mr. Farah summarized the loss on his show. A boat. There is fire. Adrift. That's the whole story.
Even if the vessel had been saved, the cars would most likely have been scrapped.
Richard Burke, a professor and chairman of naval architecture and marine engineering, said that once a ship is on fire, no one can tell you much about the integrity of the car.
Mr. Farah agreed.
He said that if it was not the fire, it was the molten lithium. If it's not the smoke, it's the water.
Car carriers carry thousands of vehicles and each vehicle has a gallon of gasoline, a half a gallon of motor oil and four rubber tires that can burn, making it difficult to extinguish fires on them.
The crew doesn't have a lot once the fire gets going.
The Sincerity Ace, a 650-foot car carrier, caught fire in the Pacific Ocean, about 2,000 miles northwest of Oahu, in Hawaii, while transporting 3,500 Nissan vehicles from Japan, according to The Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Mr. Farah, who hosts a show about cars for three hours each week, said in an email that the loss of aPorsche felt minor.
He wrote before the vessel sank that there is a global pandemic that people just want to pretend doesn't exist and that we are about to have World War III.
Michael gave reporting.
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