Grimaldi Ro/Ro Catches Fire off Mallorca
On Wednesday, 15 crewmembers were evacuated from the Grimaldi Lines ro/ro Grande Europa by helicopter after a fire broke out on board. Ten remained behind to assist with the response and towing effort.
At 0400 hours on Wednesday, a fire broke out aboard the Grande Europa while she was about 25 miles off the coast of Palma de Mallorca. The Salvamento Maritimo response vessels Salvamar Acrux, Guardamar Calíope and Marta Mata came to her assistance and helped her crew bring the fire under control.
The Europa was taken in tow and brought to Palma, and her AIS signal showed her arriving at the entrance to Palma's harbor at about 2100 hours UTC.
15 tripulantes del buque Car Carrier #GrandeEuropa evacuados en buen estado por el helicóptero Helimer 205 (25 millas al Sur de Palma) tras sufrir un incendio a bordo, prácticamente extinguido por 3 embarcaciones de @salvamentogob y por el sistema contraincendios del buque pic.twitter.com/a8BarSxgjQ
— SALVAMENTO MARÍTIMO (@salvamentogob) May 15, 2019
Spanish media report that Grimaldi has hired Ardent as its salvage contractor for the incident.
The fire aboard the Europa is the second on a Grimaldi vessel this year. On March 10, the Grimaldi con/ro Grande America experienced a container fire at a position about 140 nm off Finistère. It quickly grew out of control, forcing all 27 members of her crew to abandon ship. Over the following days, Grande America took on a heavy starboard list and eventually sank, prompting an extensive pollution control effort to minimize the effects of a bunker spill.