Twenty-two crew members bailed from the Morning Midas car carrier on June 3, 2025, after their CO2 fire suppression system choked on an EV inferno that started somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The 46,800-ton vessel, packed with 3,000 vehicles including 800 electric rides, became a floating torch when lithium-ion batteries decided to throw their own combustion party.
The crew tried fighting back. They really did. But when your fire suppression system runs dry against batteries that burn like they’re auditioning for hell’s opening act, it’s time to go. Smart move grabbing that lifeboat. A nearby merchant vessel scooped up all 22 sailors, and nobody got hurt. Lucky break in an unlucky situation.
When batteries burn like hell’s opening act, grab the lifeboat and go.
The Morning Midas left Yantai, China, on May 26, heading for Mexico. Never made it. Now she’s drifting unmanned in the Pacific, still burning, carrying 350 metric tons of gas fuel and 1,500 metric tons of very low sulfur fuel oil. That’s not exactly what environmentalists want to hear. The fire started on a deck loaded with EVs, because of course it did. Smoke spread fast, CO2 system kicked in, then gave up. Game over.
This isn’t some freak accident anymore. Ships hauling EVs keep catching fire, and conventional suppression systems can’t handle these battery blazes. The Felicity Ace met her end in 2022 with luxury EVs aboard, while the Fremantle Highway’s 2023 fire killed a crew member. The maritime industry’s got a problem, and it’s getting worse. Those lithium-ion batteries burn hot, burn long, and don’t care about your safety protocols. Fighting an EV fire requires up to 8,000 gallons of water just for cooling the batteries, making marine suppression systems woefully inadequate. The intense cooling needs mirror the challenges faced by data centers, where cooling systems account for nearly 40% of total energy consumption.
The US Coast Guard‘s monitoring the situation, but what can they do? You can’t exactly send firefighters to a burning ship in the middle of the ocean. The vessel’s just out there, unmanned, burning through its cargo of 65 fully electric vehicles and 681 hybrids. Some reports say 3,160 total vehicles. Either way, that’s a lot of melting metal and toxic smoke.
The Morning Midas, built in 2006 by Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry, might be done for. Salvage operations for a burning car carrier aren’t exactly straightforward. Maritime safety agencies will investigate, protocols will be reviewed, and somewhere, insurance companies are reaching for the antacids.
