Ship with 17 Filipinos in crew burning off Canada’s East Coast

The Yantian Express is stricken 1,300 kilometers off Canada’s East Coast. VESSEL TRACKER

A container ship that has been burning off Canada’s East Coast for the past five days has 17 Filipinos among its crew of 22, none of whom were hurt.

A spokesman for the international shipping company Hapag-Lloyd says an offshore supply vessel is carrying all 22 members of the container ship’s crew, who evacuated after the fire started inside a container aboard the Yantian Express on Jan. 3, then spread to several other containers in the forward deck.

CBC News is reporting that a big tugboat is using a high-powered water cannon to extinguish the fire, which is still burning at press time. The burning ship is some 1,300 kilometers from its intended destination, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Among the 22 crew members, 17 are from the Philippines, two from Germany and three from Poland. There is no information available on what caused the fire and what the container ship was carrying.