Car Carrier Grande Europa Catches Fire off Spain

Image Courtesy: Salvamento Maritimo

The Grimaldi Group-operated car carrier Grande Europa caught fire off the island of Mallorca, Spain, on May 15, the Spanish sea rescue society informed.

The fire on the 51,714 GT ship has been brought under control by three fire fighting ships.

The service further said that 15 crew members had been evacuated by helicopter while the rest stayed on board to aid fire fighting efforts.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.

Grande Europa was en route from the Italian Port of Salerno to Valencia, Spain, at the time of the fire outbreak, according to AIS data.

15 tripulantes del buque Car Carrier #GrandeEuropa evacuados en buen estado por el helicóptero Helimer 205 (25 millas al Sur de Palma) tras sufrir un incendio a bordo, prácticamente extinguido por 3 embarcaciones de @salvamentogob y por el sistema contraincendios del buque pic.twitter.com/a8BarSxgjQ

— SALVAMENTO MARÍTIMO (@salvamentogob) May 15, 2019

This is the second fire-related incident involving Grimaldi Lines’ vessels this year. The RoRo vessel Grande America sank off the coast of France on March 12 after a fire broke out aboard two days earlier.