Greater than per week after a ship filled with luxurious vehicles caught hearth in the course of the Atlantic Ocean, a salvage crew managed to board the vessel on Friday and began to tow it to a protected location off the Portuguese Azores archipelago.

In an announcement, ship supervisor Mitsui O.S.Ok. Traces Ltd (MOL) mentioned the Felicity Ace remained secure, and the smoke that for days billowed from the vessel, adrift round 170 km southwest of the Azores, had stopped.

The 22 crew members of the Panama-flagged Felicity Ace, which was carrying about 4,000 automobiles together with Porsches, Audis and Bentleys from Germany to america, had been evacuated final Wednesday, the day the hearth broke out.

Among the automobiles are electrical and their lithium ion batteries have made the hearth very tough to extinguish, port officers have mentioned.

Earlier makes an attempt to board the ship to evaluate its situation and begin getting ready it for towing had failed because of the hearth and tough seas.

On Friday, the crew was capable of board by helicopter and the salvage boat Bear began towing the vessel to a “protected space off Azores,” the ship supervisor mentioned. It was not clear the place precisely the vessel was being towed to.

It was being escorted by two tug boats and one other salvage craft outfitted with firefighting gear, MOL mentioned.

MOL additionally mentioned there isn’t any oil leakage from the vessel.

Insurance coverage specialists mentioned the incident may lead to losses of $155 million.