Ship carrying 3,000 cars burns off the North Sea, 1 crew member dead

A fire on a freight ship carrying nearly 3,000 cars was burning out of control Wednesday in the North Sea, and the Dutch coast guard said one crew member had died, others were hurt and it was working to save the vessel from sinking.

Boats and helicopters were used to get the 23 crew members off the ship after they tried unsuccessfully to put out the blaze, the coast guard said in a statement. “Currently there are a lot of vessels on scene to monitor the situation and to see how to get the fire under control,” Coast Guard spokeswoman Lea Versteeg told The Associated Press.