An emergency response was launched after a fire broke out in the engine room of a containership in the North Sea, according to the Dutch coastguard.
The vessel, named Victoria L, was approximately 56 kilometers (34 miles) off the coast of the Netherlands when the fire erupted and was carrying 19 crew members onboard at the time.
Furthermore, lifeboats were dispatched from Scheveningen and Hook of Holland, while a coastguard helicopter was placed on standby on a nearby drilling platform, ready for evacuation if needed.
Vanuit de lucht houden we de situatie in de gaten✈️. Op de videobeelden is het containerschip Victoria L te zien met daarbij de noodhulpsleper Multraship Protector, twee reddingboten van de @KNRM en de kustwachthelikopter. pic.twitter.com/3bVTyY6bGJ
— Kustwacht Nederland (@Kustwacht_nl) April 9, 2025
Although local media reported an explosion, the Dutch coastguard did not confirm this in its updates and has not reported any injuries among the crew.
At 3:17pm local time the coastguard stated that a fire response team had been airlifted to the ship after the captain requested assistance. By 5:16pm local time firefighters had entered the engine room and successfully extinguished the containership fire.
The situation as of the latest update is now under control, with most emergency units returning to the mainland. As reported, prior to the fire, a coastguard aircraft had been conducting surveillance and observed minimal to no smoke.
In addition to lifeboats and helicopters, two emergency response tugs and an oil response vessel were also deployed as part of the operation.
At the time of the incident, the Victoria L was not carrying any cargo. The fire comes roughly a month after another major incident in the North Sea, where a containership collided with a tanker, sparking a large blaze on both ships.
