The Canadian Coast Guard evacuated 16 people from a burning container ship, since Saturday releasing poisonous gas off the country's Pacific coast, but without the situation presenting any risk to those on land, said the officials. authorities on Sunday.
The ship, the Zim Kingston, is anchored off the city of Victoria in British Columbia, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca which marks the maritime border between Canada and the United States, according to the maritime tracking site MarineTraffic.
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The Canadian Coast Guard said in a tweet overnight Saturday to Sunday that 16 people had been evacuated by two of its rescue boats, "
after a fire broke out in ten containers
."
“
An emergency zone has been set up for (one nautical mile) around the vessel while firefighting operations are in progress.
There is currently no risk to the safety of people ashore, but the situation will continue to be monitored,
”she said.
“
The fire remains a dynamic event and an Incident Command Post has been put in place to manage the situation.
Responders are mobilizing to fight the fire and recover the containers that were detached from the ship on Friday
”, also indicated the coast guard.
The origin of the fire was not yet known on Sunday.
The container ship is carrying more than 52 tons of chemicals, including loaded into two of the containers that caught fire, CBC reported citing the coast guard.
According to Radio-Canada, the Zim Kingston was in trouble on Friday with the loss of 40 containers in the Pacific and the Canadian Coast Guard and their American counterparts were working together to find them.
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