Panama ship carrying 4,500 cars catches fire off southern Vietnam

Fire engulfed the AH SHIN vessel as it was moving along Vietnam’s south-central coast on Sunday.

The boat is currently drifting around 25 sea miles (more than 45 kilometers) to the southeast of Vung Tau, a beach town bordering Ho Chi Minh City.

The fire started spreading out from the eighth, ninth and tenth floors of the 12-floor, 21,000-ton vessel, which is 200m long and 32m wide.

There are 21 crew members on board and all of them are Russian.

Aside from 4,530 cars, including those that have been used, the boat carries 1,356 tons of oil.

The owner of the ship has asked for help from the Vietnamese authorities.

The ship’s owner said the crew has used up all carbon dioxin on board to put out the fire by Sunday night.

It has not been confirmed if any cars on board were damaged.

A Vietnamese official who wants to stay anonymous told VnExpress Sunday that the rough sea and strong waves have prevented rescuers from approaching the AH SHIN.

According to MarineTraffic, a maritime analytics provider based in Greece, which provides real-time information on the movements and location of ships, AH SHIN is a vehicles carrier that was built in 1999 and is sailing under the flag of Panama.

She departed from Incheon Port of South Korea on January 28, it said.