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Burning Cargo Ship off Dutch Coast Will Be Towed to a New Location after Flames and Smoke Subsided

A boat hoses the smoke from a fire which broke out on a freight ship in the North Sea, about 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of the Dutch island of Ameland, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (Kustwacht Nederland/Coast Guard Netherlands via AP)
A boat hoses the smoke from a fire which broke out on a freight ship in the North Sea, about 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of the Dutch island of Ameland, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (Kustwacht Nederland/Coast Guard Netherlands via AP)
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Burning Cargo Ship off Dutch Coast Will Be Towed to a New Location after Flames and Smoke Subsided

A boat hoses the smoke from a fire which broke out on a freight ship in the North Sea, about 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of the Dutch island of Ameland, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (Kustwacht Nederland/Coast Guard Netherlands via AP)
A boat hoses the smoke from a fire which broke out on a freight ship in the North Sea, about 27 kilometers (17 miles) north of the Dutch island of Ameland, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (Kustwacht Nederland/Coast Guard Netherlands via AP)

Salvage crews were preparing Saturday to tow a car-carrying cargo ship that has been burning for days to an anchor point in the North Sea after flames and smoke on board subsided, the Dutch government said.
Fire erupted in the Fremantle Highway late Tuesday night near a chain of islands in the northern Netherlands and has been blazing ever since. The ship is carrying 3,783 new vehicles, including 498 electric vehicles, the company that chartered the vessel said.
One crew member died and others were injured after the fire broke out on the ship that was heading from Bremerhaven in Germany to Singapore. The crew was evacuated in the early hours of Wednesday. The cause of the fire has not been established, The Associated Press said.
Measurements Friday showed that heat, flames and smoke had subsided enough for salvage experts to board the ship for the first time and establish a strong towing connection with a tugboat, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management said.
It will be towed, likely over the weekend, to a new position 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of the island of Schiermonnikoog , the ministry said in a statement. The timing of the operation that is expected to take 12-14 hours depends on smoke development and weather, the ministry added. The aim is ultimately “once conditions on board allow,” to tow the ship to a port, though the destination has not yet been decided.
The ministry said the ship is stable and intact below the waterline.
The burning vessel is close to the shallow Wadden Sea, a World Heritage-listed area that is considered one of the world’s most significant habitats for migratory birds. It’s also near the Netherlands’ border with Germany, whose environment minister, Steffi Lemke, has warned of "an environmental catastrophe of unknown proportions,” if the ship were to sink.

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Crowds File into St. Peter’s on Last Day to Pay Respects to Pope Francis

Visitors queue to enter the Vatican and pay their respects to the late Pope, next to the colonnade and a Carabineri officer (R), with St. Peter's Basilica viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Visitors queue to enter the Vatican and pay their respects to the late Pope, next to the colonnade and a Carabineri officer (R), with St. Peter's Basilica viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Crowds File into St. Peter’s on Last Day to Pay Respects to Pope Francis

Visitors queue to enter the Vatican and pay their respects to the late Pope, next to the colonnade and a Carabineri officer (R), with St. Peter's Basilica viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Visitors queue to enter the Vatican and pay their respects to the late Pope, next to the colonnade and a Carabineri officer (R), with St. Peter's Basilica viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)

Tens of thousands of mourners filed into St. Peter's Basilica on Friday on the last day to pay final respects to Pope Francis ahead of his funeral on Saturday.

Long queues snaked around St. Peter's Square and the surrounding roads, before being funneled through the heart of the basilica in a single column leading to the central altar, where Francis' open coffin was displayed on a dais.

The basilica was open for most of Thursday evening into Friday morning, shutting its doors for only three hours overnight.

The body of the 88-year-old pope, who died on Monday in his rooms at the Vatican's Santa Marta guesthouse after suffering a stroke, was brought to St. Peter's in a solemn procession on Wednesday.

Since then, about 150,000 people from all over the world have bid farewell to the pontiff, the Vatican said.

"It's a very strong feeling (to be here)," said Patricio Castriota, a visitor who, like the pope, is from Argentina. "This farewell was very sad, but I thank God that I was able to see him".

"He's the only pope we've had who came from South America, a pope who had many good intentions for the Catholic Church," said Castriota. "He cleaned up (a lot) of the bad, maybe not all of it, but he tried."

Francis, who became pope in 2013, was the first pontiff from the Western hemisphere and was known for an unusually charming, and even humorous, demeanor.

His 12-year papacy was sometimes turbulent, with Francis seeking to overhaul a divided institution but battling with traditionalists who opposed his many changes.

"He humanized the church, without desacralizing it," said Cardinal Francois-Xavier Bustillo, who leads the Church on the French island of Corsica.

Queues on Friday morning were stretching halfway down the main boulevard leading through Rome into the Vatican.

People were pressing forward slowly, some waiting hours, in order to have a few minutes inside to pay their respects to Francis.

Vatican officials plan to end viewings at 7 p.m. on Friday, ahead of a formal rite to seal the late pope's coffin. The Vatican said it would close access to the line to enter the basilica about an hour earlier at around 6 p.m.

ROME PREPARES FOR FUNERAL

A conclave to choose a new pontiff is unlikely to start before May 6. In the meantime, the world's Catholic cardinals have assumed temporary control of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church.

Cardinals present in Rome are convening almost daily, primarily to discuss logistical matters, in what is called a "general congregation".

149 of the world's 252 cardinals were present for the meeting on Friday morning, the Vatican said, with dozens more expected to arrive through the rest of the day.

Francis' coffin will be sealed in a private ceremony on Friday evening led by eight Catholic cardinals, including a US prelate who has faced criticism over his handling of sexual abuse cases.

Among those also present will be the late pope's secretaries.

Rome is preparing for the arrival of dozens of world leaders attending Saturday's funeral, including US President Donald Trump and 10 reigning monarchs.

There had been speculation that foreign leaders might have diplomatic meetings on the sidelines of the funeral to discuss the war in Ukraine, but the Elysee Palace said on Friday that French President Emmanuel Macron would not host any such meetings.

Trump was due to spend only about 15 hours in Rome, arriving late on Friday evening and leaving directly after the funeral.

Authorities have started ramping up security ahead of the ceremony, with snipers on rooftops, drones watching from the sky and an army device readied to neutralize hostile flying objects.

The heart of Rome is expected to be closed to traffic on Saturday to allow a funeral motorcade carrying the pope's remains to make its way slowly to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major), where Francis, in a break from tradition, asked to be buried instead of St. Peter's Basilica.

Crowds are expected to gather along the route, which will pass by many of Rome's famed monuments, including the Colosseum.

The pope's tomb will be in a niche in a side aisle of the basilica, with just the word "Franciscus", his name in Latin, engraved on the marble.