Overview
- Smoke continues to rise from the deck loaded with about 800 electric vehicles on the Liberia-flagged Morning Midas.
- All 22 crew members were safely evacuated and rescued by nearby merchant vessels with no injuries reported.
- The US Coast Guard has deployed aircrews, a cutter and a tugboat to coordinate salvage and firefighting operations alongside operator Zodiac Maritime.
- The Morning Midas is carrying roughly 3,000 vehicles and stores about 350 metric tons of gas fuel plus 1,530 metric tons of very low sulfur fuel oil, raising spill concerns.
- Lithium-ion battery fires on ships are prone to thermal runaway and reignition, demanding specialized firefighting tactics.