Ship carrying 4,000 luxury cars sinks off the Azores

Felicity Ace

A cargo ship that was carrying thousands of luxury cars has sunk off the Portuguese Azores archipelago, nearly two weeks after it caught fire.

The ship, named Felicity Ace, was transporting around 4,000 cars such as Porsches and Bentleys.

The vessel was on its way to Rhode Island in the United States from the German port of Emden when the fire broke out.

All of its crew members were evacuated when the fire broke out on February 16.

Joao Mendes Cabecas, the captain of the nearest port on the island of Faial, told Reuters that no oil leak had been reported so far but said there were fears the fuel tanks could be damaged while the vessel lies at the bottom of the Atlantic at a depth of around 3,500 metres (2.17 miles).

Portugal's navy said no one was hurt by the fire and that the 22 crew members were taken to a hotel after the navy, four merchant ships sailing in the area and the Portuguese Air Force completed the evacuation.

Volkswagen said the damage to the vehicles was covered by insurance which could cost around $155m (£116m) according to Reuters.

Bentley confirmed that 189 of its cars were onboard the ship and Porsche said it had about 1,100 of its models onboard.

One customer tweeted to say his Porsche was on board the abandoned ship.

BBC