Sometime between January 31 and February 1, 2018, the engine room of Mitsui’s commercial cargo ship MOL Prestige caught fire while en route from Vancouver, Canada, to Tokyo, Japan. The fire occurred two days into its voyage. Five crew were injured putting out the fire, three severely enough to be evacuated by helicopter. All other mariners of the 23-member crew were reported safe. The ship was without power and set adrift about 207 nautical miles SW of Haida Gwaii. The disabled ship was towed back to port by the Denise Foss tug and arrived in the Port of Seattle on February 11, 2018.
U.S. Coast Guard sector Puget Sound investigators and senior investigators with the Transportation and Safety Board of Canada boarded the 876’ MOL Prestige on February 12, 2018, as part of the preliminary investigation into the cause of the fire.
