Helicopters and a ship evacuated 23 crew members from a automobile provider ship off the Netherlands early Wednesday, after a hearth killed no less than one sailor, the Dutch coastguard stated.

Rescue personnel acquired a name shortly after midnight (2200 GMT Tuesday) saying a hearth had began on the Fremantle Highway, a Panamanian-registered ship with some 3,000 autos on board, about 14.5 nautical miles (27 kilometres) off the northern Dutch island of Ameland.

“All 23 crew members have now been evacuated off the ship,” the Dutch coastguard stated on its web site.

“The crew tried to put out the fire themselves, but failed. Unfortunately one person died and several others were injured,” it added.

The Fremantle Highway is an 18,500-tonne automobile provider ship and was crusing between Bremerhaven in Germany and Port Said in Egypt, in keeping with the marinetraffic.com web site, when the blaze broke out.

“The blaze is still raging on board,” the coastguard stated, including that the ship was itemizing.

Salvage vessels had been on the scene making an attempt to place out the blaze and stop the ship from sinking, the NOS nationwide broadcaster stated.

“We are taking into account all scenarios,” a coastguard official instructed the NOS.

The doable explanation for the hearth was an electrical automobile, one among some 25 on board, the official stated.