Cargo ship carrying Porsches, Lamborghinis, and Bentleys sinks in the Atlantic

Image: Portuguese Navy

A cargo ship carrying thousands of vehicles across the Atlantic Ocean has sunk, according to the company that operated the ship. A fire broke out on the ship as it traveled from Germany to the USA.

The company confirmed that nearly 4,000 cars from the Volkswagen Group were being transported to the USA. According to the Associated Press, there were both electric and non-electric vehicles on the plane, and reports from February indicated that there were many luxury cars on board. The captain of the ship said that the batteries in the EV caught fire.

MOL said the ship sank at 9AM local time around 220 nautical miles off the coast of the Azores, an archipelago in the mid-Atlantic that is an independent region of Portugal. The Portuguese Navy said when the fire first broke out that all 22 crew members were evacuated and did not need medical attention.

The smoke leaving the ship has stopped and is not visible, and a team was able to board the ship on Friday. According to The Wall Street Journal, the ship sank as it was being towed.