The Maersk Kampala, situated south of the Suez Canal, continues to fight a fire in the two foremost cargo bays of the vessel. Crew are all accounted for and safe in the accomodation area with no injuries reported.
The fire originated in one container at the bottom of a stack before spreading to a second container. On Friday evening into Saturday late morning weather conditions prevented fire fighting tugs from getting close enough to have maximum effect. As a result the fire spread to several more containers but was contained in the two foremost bays.
Saturday and Sunday saw weather improve and fire fighting tugs on scene have been able to continue soaking the area and have managed to reduce the number of containers still with fire to six, all contained in the same bays. Importantly, the fire fighting team on board is also now well into the process of extinguishing the fire inside containers by cutting open the hot containers as well as those nearby and flooding them with water.
To speed up this process, an additional fire fighting team will come aboard this evening.Updates will be provided as soon as new information becomes available.
[mappress]
Maersk Line, September 2, 2013