Ship fire continues to blaze

Wednesday 31 January 2007

The A9 motorway between Beverwijk and Velsen remained closed during Wednesday morning’s rush hour due to the massive fire on board of a ship in the harbour at Velsen. The road was reopened by mid-morning but the Beverwijk exit was still unusable. The fire was still burning on Wednesday morning, almost 24 hours day after the blaze began.

The crisis website of the local authority reports this morning that the vessel has still not stabilised.

Roads around the area are to remain closed because thick smoke could develop when the fire brigade restart their work to put out the blaze. They were forced to abandon their work in the early hours because of fears that the ship would capsize and spill oil into the sea.

The fire on the 143 meter fishing boat started at around 9am on Tuesday morning. An area a kilometre round the fire – mainly industrial terrain - was evacuated because of the release of harmful emissions.

A spokesman for the crisis centre told Nu.nl that the emissions released by the fire, including sulphur dioxide, do not pose a health threat outside the evacuated area.

© DutchNews.nl

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