Cargo ship carrying new vehicles sinks in international waters
A cargo ship that had been delivering about 3,000 new vehicles to Mexico sank in the North Pacific Ocean, just weeks after crew members abandoned ship when they couldn't extinguish an onboard fire that left the carrier dead in the water.
The Morning Midas sank in international waters off Alaska 's Aleutian Islands chain on Monday, the ship's management company, London-based Zodiac Maritime, said.
Fire damage compounded by bad weather and water seepage has been blamed for causing the carrier to sink in waters about 16,404 feet (5,000 meters) deep and about 415 miles (770 kilometers) from land.
'There is no visible pollution,' said Petty Officer Cameron Snell, an Alaska-based U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson.
"Right now, we also have vessels on scene to respond to any pollution.'
The ship was loaded with about 3,000 new vehicles intended for a major Pacific port in Mexico. It was not immediately clear if any of the cars were removed before it sank, and Zodiac Maritime did not immediately respond to messages on Tuesday.
A savage crew arrived days after the fire disabled the vehicle.
Two salvage tugs containing pollution control equipment will remain on scene to monitor for any signs of pollution or debris, the company said. The crew members of those two ships were not injured when the Morning Midas sank.
Zodiac Maritime said it is also sending another specialized pollution response vessel to the location as an added precaution.
The Coast Guard said it received a distress alert June 3 about a fire aboard the Morning Midas, which was then roughly 300 miles (490 kilometers) southwest of Adak Island.
All 22 crew members onboard the Morning Midas were evacuated to a lifeboat and later rescued by a nearby merchant marine vessel. There were no injuries.
Among the cars were about 70 fully electric and about 680 hybrid vehicles. A large plume of smoke was initially seen at the ship's stern coming from the deck loaded with electric vehicles, the Coast Guard and Zodiac Maritime said at the time.
Adak is about 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) west of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city.
The 600-foot (183-meter) Morning Midas was built in 2006 and sails under a Liberian flag. The car and truck carrier left Yantai, China, on May 26 en route to Mexico, according to the industry site marinetraffic.com.
A Dutch safety board in a recent report called for improving emergency response on North Sea shipping routes after a deadly 2023 fire aboard a freighter that was carrying 3,000 automobiles, including nearly 500 electric vehicles, from Germany to Singapore.
One person was killed and others injured in the fire, which burned out of control for a week. That ship was eventually towed to a Netherlands port for salvage.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
PHOTO ESSAY: In rural Alaska, collecting driftwood saves time, money and brings jobs
As ice breaks on the Yukon River, Jake Pogrebinsky looks at the water from shore, searching for a large log floating downstream. When he spots one, he hops into his wooden motorboat and roars toward it, chainsawing any roots or branches that might still be attached, a hand-rolled cigarette never far from his lips. Then he drags the log with a rope toward shore, where eventually it will be used in the community here in central Alaska. Pogrebinsky, 59, has been collecting driftwood in this remote, sprawling village of Galena for as long as he can remember. It's part of his job, but it also brings him great joy. 'Doing this, it's the greatest time,' he said. Plucking logs from the river provides jobs and heating Naturally felled and chopped trees and logs have long journeyed down rivers and oceans, transported by winds, waves, currents and ice, some eventually swooped up by people for building, heating, tools and more. Indigenous people have done the practice for millennia and it continues today. Rather than paying to barge or fly in wood, Galena residents say gathering floating logs not only saves money and energy, but also allows people to connect with their environment. 'It provides local jobs. We're using local materials, we're using local labor,' said Brooke Sanderson, tribal administrator for the local Louden Tribe. Most of the collected driftwood becomes firewood for heating during bone-chilling winters, but it is also transformed into sidings for new energy efficient homes being built for members of the Louden Tribe. Collecting large floating logs is just one of the village's sustainable practices: For nearly a decade, locally harvested trees have been shredded into wood chips that heat a bustling boarding school. And soon, a nearly-completed solar farm will curb the town's reliance on expensive, imported diesel. In the summer of 2024, the tribe set up a sawmill — which Pogrebinsky operates — to process driftwood and trees into lumber. They had tried to harvest trees off the land but it was too time consuming and labor intensive, said Sanderson. Collecting driftwood, she said, was more worth people's time. Pogrebinsky can tell you all the reasons why. For one, the river carries a lot of good wood the village generally wouldn't have. 'The quality of material is very high. ... They can be permanent materials that would last decades." And by the time he catches a driftwood, most of the logging and branch removal has been done, and the bark has washed away. 'It's amazing. It saves so much energy,' said Pogrebinsky. A good season brings in so much driftwood that you can hardly see the water, he added, and a boat is nearly impossible to use. Pulling out driftwood also has environmental benefits Enda Murphy, assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of British Columbia who has researched coastal driftwood, said too much can smother vegetation in sensitive ecosystems and consume oxygen that fish and other species need. But these floating logs can also transport seeds, plants and serve as perches for birds and hiding spots for fish. A big question researchers are still working to answer is: How much is too much? And when does it start having adverse impacts on the environment? 'This is something that we don't really fully understand,' said Murphy. With Pogrebinsky's help, the Louden Tribe is working to get more people to collect driftwood from the river and sell it to the sawmill, and in the process reap all the benefits of being in nature. 'A big part of the idea is to encourage people to go out and do this. To see the value of this. To experience all the marvelous things that I have experienced,' said Pogrebinsky. ___ Pineda reported from Los Angeles. ___
BreakingNews.ie
17 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Gurdeep Loyal's chipotle hoisin chicken wings recipe
Native to Mexico, chipotle chillies are actually just very ripe, dark red jalapeños that have been smoke-dried until black,' says chef and food writer Gurdeep Loyal. 'To make chipotle paste, these medium–hot chillies are blended with onions, garlic, vinegar, tomato concentrate, salt and spices like cumin and smoked paprika. 'As Mae West famously said: 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful'. This applies to many facets in life, including flavour, and – in my opinion – there's nothing more thrilling than pairing two extremely delicious, loud and out-there flavours. Sweet, sticky hoisin and smoky dark chipotle are ingredients that I especially love to intermingle. Together, they are the perfect adornment for crispy- skinned chicken wings. Just wonderful!' Advertisement Chipotle hoisin chicken wings Ingredients (Makes 14 wings) 6tbsp baking powder 1tsp Chinese five spice 2tbsp fine polenta (cornmeal), ground to a powder 1tbsp onion powder 14 chicken wings, skin on (about 1.25kg) 6tbsp hoisin sauce 3tbsp chipotle paste 3 fat garlic cloves, crushed to a paste 3tbsp apple cider vinegar (Patricia Niven/PA) Method 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6. 2. Prepare a coating by whisking together the baking powder, Chinese five spice, ground polenta and onion powder in a bowl. 3. Pat dry each of the chicken wings using paper towels so that no moisture remains on the skin. Dredge in the coating, ensuring that they are covered all over and in the crevices. Place on two baking sheets, spaced well apart, and bake for 40–45 minutes until crispy. Advertisement 4. Meanwhile, prepare a glaze by whisking together the hoisin sauce, chipotle paste, garlic and vinegar in a bowl. 5. Remove the cooked wings from the oven, brush liberally with the glaze, then bake for a final 3 minutes. Serve hot from the oven, brushing with more glaze if you like. (Quadrille/PA) Flavour Heroes: 15 Modern Pantry Ingredients to Amplify Your Cooking by Gurdeep Loyal is published in hardback by Quadrille. Photography by Patricia Niven. Available now
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
In words and photos, rural Alaska residents reflect on their village's sustainable practices
In rural central Alaska, a village is in the midst of a clean energy transformation that locals say will boost savings, build resilience and provide jobs. Galena wants to curb its reliance on expensive, imported diesel that when burned is one of the largest contributors of planet-warming emissions. Nearly 10 years ago, the village started harvesting trees to fuel a biomass plant to heat its bustling boarding school, offsetting about 100,000 gallons (about 380,000 liters) of diesel annually. The local Louden Tribe is encouraging people to collect floating logs from the Yukon River that can be used for firewood and siding for the sustainable homes they're building for members. And soon a 1.5-megawatt solar farm will allow the city to turn off its diesel engines and run on 100% clean, renewable energy on sunny summer days, with excess power stored in a battery for later use. That will save another 100,000 gallons annually. The Associated Press talked to residents about their village's sustainable and renewable energy projects. Here are some of their reflections: Tim Kalke, 46, general manager at Sustainable Energy for Galena Alaska 'We're just ensuring that our critical infrastructure has redundancy and protection built into it, so that every time there's a power outage, it doesn't turn into tens of thousands of dollars in repairs in its wake.' Jade Thurmond, 20, a Galena resident working on the solar farm 'I'm really excited for when we are using it and how we'll reduce our diesel usage. I think that would be pretty fun to see and to hear about in the future, and see what comes along.' Jake Pogrebinsky, 54, a sawmill operator for Louden Tribe and driftwood collector 'Instead of having to make money to pay for barge freight or to buy materials, you are spending your time out on the river. For a young person, as a lesson, as a skill-building activity, it cannot possibly be compared to.' Brad Scotton, 54, a Galena city council member 'What (the biomass plant) has done is stabilize (costs), and it's created a local workforce and a job base that we never used to have. So it's keeping the money that used to go outside within the community and providing pretty meaningful jobs for people.' Will Kramer, 29, an applied mechanics instructor at Galena Interior Learning Academy 'We are just at the whim of whatever somebody else that wants to make all the money off of us is saying and doing. And being able to install and integrate these systems in these communities, it kind of gives the freedom back to the communities.' Phil Koontz, 74 , a retired environmental engineer for the Louden Tribe 'It would be very hard to live here without outside resources. I see fuel as probably the main outside resource that we use. It provides most of the electricity, it provides most of the transportation, it provides most of the heat. I don't know what we're going to do without those things. One of the solutions I see is efficiency, reducing the need for energy to produce the same result, better insulated houses, better vehicles, better energy sources.' Aaren Sommer, 19, a Galena resident helping install the solar array The array is 'going to reduce the diesel usage a whole bunch over at the power plant, which is going to help us out.' ___ Pineda reported from Los Angeles. ___
