A freighter carrying 3,885 vehicles that ran aground Oct. 1 on Izu-Oshima Island in the Pacific, caught fire Tuesday morning and was billowing black and white smoke and leaking fuel, the Japan Coast Guard said.
The 56,835-ton Hual Europe, which has broken in two, caught fire around 5:30 a.m., coast guard officials said. It is still stuck in the same place it ran aground on Oct. 1 at the mouth of Habuminato port. Oshima lies around 110 km southwest of Tokyo. The Hual Europe is registered in the Bahamas and is owned by a Norwegian shipping firm.
A plume of thick, black smoke billowed from the freighter, which had broken its back and was listing 60 degrees toward the shore, said an Oshima government official.