A cargo ship carrying 3,048 brand–new vehicles has sunk in the Pacific Ocean, weeks after a fire forced the crew to abandon ship. All 22 crew members evacuated safely on June 3, when a fire disabled the vessel. Authorities reported no injuries.
What caused it to sink?
The fire severely damaged the ship, named Morning Midas, and bad weather later battered it, allowing water to seep in. It sank on Monday, June 23, more than 415 miles off the coast of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, according to the vessel’s management company, London-based Zodiac Maritime.
Emergency response
The U.S. Coast Guard reports that there is currently “no visible pollution,” although emergency vessels remain on the scene to monitor the area.
Officials have not confirmed whether crews removed the thousands of cars onboard — bound for Mexico — before the ship sank. A salvage team reportedly reached the vessel in the days following the fire. However, the extent of their efforts remains unknown.
Zodiac Maritime said two salvage ships equipped with pollution control gear will remain on site, and they are dispatching a third pollution control vessel as an added safety measure.
According to the Coast Guard, the Morning Midas was carrying 350 metric tons of marine gas oil and 1,530 metric tons of very low-sulfur fuel. The oil response vessel Endeavour, equipped with spill containment and recovery tools, is en route and expected to arrive by Thursday, June 26.
What happened on board?
The Coast Guard received a distress call on June 3, reporting a fire aboard the Morning Midas, roughly 300 miles southwest of Adak Island, about 1,200 miles from Anchorage, Alaska.
Witnesses saw a thick plume of smoke rising from the stern, near the deck where the vehicles were stored. Among the cars onboard were around 70 EVs and approximately 680 hybrids.
Investigators have not yet disclosed the cause of the fire.
The 600-foot vessel, nearly 20 years old, departed China on May 26 and was sailing under a Liberian flag en route to Mexico, according to marinetraffic.com.
Past cargo ship fires raise concerns
This is the latest in a series of incidents involving car carriers that have caught fire at sea.
A 2023 blaze aboard a cargo ship in the North Sea, carrying 3,000 vehicles, including 500 EVs, killed one person and injured others.
In 2022, a fire aboard a ship transporting 4,000 vehicles, including luxury brands and EVs, burned for days before the vessel ultimately sank in the Atlantic. Experts believe lithium-ion batteries in the electric vehicles likely fueled that fire.
