Fire on Evacuated Container Ship Is Under Control, Canada Says

(Bloomberg) --

A fire aboard a container vessel near British Columbia has been brought under control, Canada’s coast guard said after evacuating most of the ship’s crew and establishing a safety perimeter in the area amid concern about floating debris and air quality.

Sixteen people were rescued over the weekend from the Zim Kingston, the Canadian Coast Guard said on Twitter. The blaze “has been stabilized” and “depending on weather tomorrow, hazardous materials firefighters will board the ship to fight any remaining fires and ensure the fire is out,” according to a post on Sunday.

Smoke was being tracked at air-quality monitoring stations around the area of Victoria on Vancouver Island, and local health officials were given those results, the coast guard said.

The Zim Kingston lost more than 40 containers in rough seas on Friday, with the U.S. Coast Guard saying in a Twitter post that it was monitoring several of them after they went adrift in the choppy conditions.

Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. said in a statement that it’s “closely coordinating with the vessel’s owners, the Canadian authorities and other relevant agencies, while working under heavy weather conditions, to handle the incident.” The company added its main concern was crew safety and preventing environmental impact.

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