Lithium Batteries Suspected as Cause
The cause of the fire is not known, Mendes Cabecas said, though suspicion has fallen on lithium batteries in electric vehicles the Felicity Ace was taking from Germany to the United States.
“We know from what the captain told us that there were a lot of electric vehicles on board, as well as non-electric vehicles,” he said.
The fire broke out on a cargo deck where the vehicles were stowed, according to Mendes Cabecas, but when the alarm went off there was already too much smoke to make out where the blaze had started.