The U.S. Coast Guard and local agencies in New York were working
Wednesday to extinguish a fire aboard a Panamanian-flagged
roll-on/roll-off vessel at Homeport Pier in Staten Island.
According to the Coast Guard, the 360-foot MV Grey Shark departed New
York on March 11 bound for the Caribbean Sea with 13 crewmembers. On
Saturday, March 14th, one of the vessel’s two engines failed, causing
the Master of the ship to make the decision to return to New York for
repairs.
At approximately 4 p.m. Sunday, the vessel experienced difficulty
with its second engine that caused a fire to break out in the cargo
spaces of the vessel. Power was eventually restored to one of the
vessel’s engines and the fire was contained by the shipboard
firefighting system, but the fire continued to smolder.
After receiving assistance from the USCGC Seneca crew and a
McAllister Towing tug approximately 180 miles southeast of Cape May, New
Jersey on Monday, a tow was rigged for the Grey Shark so the damaged
vessel could be returned to New York for inspection.
As of Wednesday morning, the Grey Shark was at Homeport Pier in
Staten Island with the fire still smoldering, where it was boarded FDNY
crews.
FDNY officials have since declared the fire to be completely extinguished.
The cause of the fire and the loss of engine power is under investigation.