The fire spread from the original two containers ablaze in the foremost part of the vessel to “several more containers” after fire fighting efforts on Friday evening, and Saturday morning were hampered by bad weather Maersk Line said in a statement. However, the company said the fire was contained in the two foremost bays of the vessel.
“Saturday and Sunday saw weather improve and fire fighting tugs on scene have been able to continue soaking the area and have managed to reduce the number of containers still with fire to six, all contained in the same bays,” Maersk said.
“Importantly, the fire fighting team on board is also now well into the process of extinguishing the fire inside containers by cutting open the hot containers as well as those nearby and flooding them with water.”
The company said an additional fire fighting company would board the vessel on Monday evening.
The fire is reported to have started in a container at the bottom of the stack and then spread to a second box. The Maersk Kampala was steaming north towards the Suez Canal when the fire started.
It is the third blaze involving containers catching fire onboard vessels in the last two months. In July the crew of Hansa Brandenberg were forced to evacuate the vessel after containers in front of the accommodation block caught fire. Earlier in the same month containers onboard the wreck of the MOL Comfort caught fire while it was being towed to Oman, the fire raged for five days before the fore section of the vessel sank.
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