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List of roll-on/roll-off vessel accidents

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This is a list of roll-on/roll-off vessels involved in maritime incidents and accidents.

DateNameIncident
31 January 1953Princess Victoria[1]Sank in the North Channel between Scotland and Northern Ireland in a windstorm (that also caused the North Sea flood of 1953); 135 dead.
26 September 1954Hitaka MaruCapsized by Typhoon Marie (1954) with loss of crew, but no passengers.[2] Also romanized as Hidaka.
Kitami MaruCapsized by Typhoon Marie (1954) with loss of crew, but no passengers.[2]
Seikan Maru No 11Capsized by Typhoon Marie (1954) with loss of crew, but no passengers.[2] Refloated in 1956 and returned to service.[3]
Tokachi Maru
Tōya MaruCapsized in Japan’s Tsugaru Strait by Typhoon Marie (1954), 1,170 passengers and crew were killed in the accident.[4]
8 December 1966SS HeraklionUnsecured refrigerator truck forced open midship loading door[5]
10 April 1968TEV WahineCaught in storm Cyclone Giselle, ran aground on Barrett Reef, then capsized and sank off New Zealand; 53 dead.
7 June 1980MS ZenobiaCapsized and sank in the Mediterranean Sea, close to Larnaca, Cyprus due to a software error. No casualties or serious injury
19 December 1982MS European GatewayCapsized off Harwich following a collision with Speedlink Vanguard.
15 February 1985MV A ReginaRan aground and wrecked. No casualties or serious injury
6 March 1987MS Herald of Free EnterpriseCapsized off Zeebrugge when the bow door was left open. 193 passengers and crew died.[6]
26 April 1988ReijinCapsized and sank off the coast of Portugal on maiden voyage
7 April 1990MS Scandinavian StarCaught fire and burned as a result of arson
10 April 1991MV Moby PrinceCaught fire and burned as a result of a collision with an oil tanker. 140 passengers and crew died.
14-15 December 1991MV Salem ExpressStruck a reef and sank in sight of port at Safaga, Egypt, with at least 464 casualties.
14 January 1993MS Jan HeweliuszCapsized and sunk in the Baltic Sea. 56 dead, 9 survivors, partially due to inefficient rescue efforts.[7][8]
28 September 1994MS EstoniaHad a bow visor failure. Investigations have been reopened in 2020. 852 people aboard were killed in the accident.
18 September 1998MV Princess of the OrientFoundered and sank in Typhoon Vicki. 150 people died.
26 September 2000MS Express SaminaStruck a rock and sank off Paros, Greece
26 September 2002MV Le JoolaSecond deadliest non-military maritime disaster - 1,863 deaths and 64 survivors.
14 December 2002MV TricolorCollision, no casualties, vessel required salvation by wreck cutting in 9 sections due to being a hazard to navigation.
31 January 2004MV Diamond RayCollision with container vessel Trade Zale during anchoring in the bay of Ulsan, South Korea, requiring salvage tugs, no casualties[9][10]
15 May 2004MV Hyundai No 105Collided with tanker MT Kaminesan and sank close to Singapore Sentosa island, no casualties but crew required rescue[11]
3 February 2006MS al-Salam Boccaccio 98Capsized and sank in the Red Sea, there was bad weather but the direct cause of the sinking is unknown, 185 dead bodies were recovered and 813 of them are missing and presumed dead, 998 casualties total.[12]
22 March 2006MV Queen of the NorthFailed to make a planned course change, ran aground and sank.
23 July 2006Cougar AceSeverely listed. Was successfully salvaged and returned to service.[13]
8 March 2007MV Repubblica di GenovaCapsized inside Antwerp port, due to possible incorrect stowage and ballast. Towage was required[14]
21 June 2008MV Princess of the StarsCapsized in Typhoon Fengshen. 814 passengers and crew died.
5 December 2012Baltic Ace11 fatalities, collision with container vessel Corvus J.
7 May 2013MV Jolly Nero9 fatalities, collision with the Pilots' office tower during unberthing[15]
16 April 2014MV Sewol304 fatalities, caused by insufficient ballast, overloading, and steering error.[16]
28 December 2014MS Norman AtlanticCaught fire in the Strait of Otranto in the Adriatic Sea, 22 casualties (estimated).
3 January 2015Höegh OsakaDeveloped severe list and was intentionally grounded, no casualties
2 June 2015 MV Courage US-flagged roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) vehicle carrier Courage was transiting from Bremerhaven, Germany, to Southampton, United Kingdom, when a fire broke out in its cargo hold. The accident resulted in extensive damage to the vessel's hold as well its cargo of vehicles and household goods. As a result of the damage, estimated at $100 million total, the vessel's owners scrapped the vessel. Electrical arcing in the automatic braking system (ABS) of an EV carried on board was concluded as the probable cause of the fire by the National Transportation Safety Board.[17]
1 October 2015SS El Faro33 fatalities, sunk in deep water by Hurricane Joaquin[18]
26 January 2016MV Modern ExpressSeverely listed in the Bay of Biscay, crew evacuated, no casualties, vessel required salvation by towage[19]
20 September 2018MV Nyerere228 fatalities, captain distracted by cellphone.[20]
31 December 2018Sincerity AceCaught fire in the middle of the Pacific Ocean about 1,800 nautical miles from Oahu. Nearby commercial ships helped rescue 16 crew members, but five crew members lost their lives in the incident.[21] The ship was reportedly carrying 3,800 Nissan vehicles, but the cause of the fire is still unknown.
10 March 2019Grande AmericaCaught fire and sank in the Bay of Biscay, no casualties[22]
15 May 2019 Grande Europa Caught fire close to Mallorca; no casualties.[23]
15 June 2019 MV Diamond Highway Caught fire in the South China Sea, with all 25 crew members abandoning ship and rescued by a bulk carrier.[24][25]
9 September 2019Golden RayCapsized in St. Simons Sound, no casualties. Vessel caught fire during salvage operations.[26][27]
4 June 2020 MV Höegh Xiamen Caught fire while docked at Blount Island, 8 JFRD firefighters were injured. Vessel required salvation by towage.[28][29]
16 February 2022 Felicity Ace Caught fire off the coast of the Azores. Crew evacuated, no casualties. Vessel eventually capsized and sunk.[30][31]
18 February 2022 Euroferry Olympia Caught fire near Diapontia Islands, northwest of Corfu while en route from Igoumenitsa, Greece to Brindisi, Italy. 11 people died.[32]
17 March 2022 Al Salmy 6 Listed after departure Jebel Ali, and sank in the Gulf. All crew members were rescued[33]
22 July 2022 MV Holiday Island A fire broke out in the engine room just before the ferry entered Wood Islands. Over 200 people were evacuated by lifeboats and local fishermen. No casualties were reported.[34]
5 July 2023 Grande Costa D’Avorio Cargo fire during offloading at Newark, New Jersey, US dock; two firefighters died and six were injured.[35]
26 July 2023 MV Fremantle Highway Caught fire in the North Sea near Dutch island of Ameland. One crew member died. 24 hours later the ship was still burning.[36]
3 June 2025 Morning Midas Caught fire in the North Pacific Ocean 300 nautical miles (560 km) south of Alaska. All 22 of her crew were rescued by the container ship COSCO Hellas. Morning Midas sank on June 23, 2025.[37]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Gordon, D (22 January 2003). "Princess Victoria". Irish Sea Shipping: The Online Shipping Magazine. Archived from the original on July 23, 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Nakao, Masayuki. "Seikan Railroad Ferryboat Accident". Failure Knowledge Database. Institute of Engineering Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  3. ↑ Pearce, W.A. "Japanese Railway Ships". Japanese Railway Society. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  4. ↑ Jackson, Joe (2012-01-20). "Toya Maru — Sea of Japan, 1954 | Unsafe at Sea: Asia's History of Deadly Ferry Disasters". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  5. ↑ Papanikolaou, A; Boulougouris, Evangelos; Sklavenitis, A (2014). "The sinking of the Ro–Ro passenger ferry SS Heraklion". International Shipbuilding Progress. 61 (1–2): 81–102. doi:10.3233/ISP-130109. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  6. ↑ Sheen, Mr Justice (1987), mv Herald of Free Enterprise: Report of Court No. 8074 Formal Investigation (PDF), Crown Department of Transport, ISBN 0-11-550828-7, retrieved 31 July 2018
  7. ↑ Rudzka, Magdalena. "Katastrofa promu "Heweliusz" – przyczyny, liczba ofiar i kontrowersje | National Geographic". www.national-geographic.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2025-12-19.
  8. ↑ Radio, Polskie. "Heweliusz. Prawdziwa historia". www.polskieradio.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2025-12-19.
  9. ↑ Honshu Shipping Co, LTD. v. M/V Trade Zale (United States District Court, N.D. California), Text.
  10. ↑ "Diamond Ray". Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  11. ↑ "Ship Carrying 4,000 Cars Sinks off of Singapore". NBC News. Associated Press. 23 May 2004. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  12. ↑ "Ship with 1,400 sinks in Red Sea". CNN. 3 February 2006.
  13. ↑ Davis, Joshua (25 February 2008). "High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Seas: The Race to Save the Cougar Ace". Wired. Vol. 16, no. 3. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  14. ↑ McDaniel, Michael S. "A Cargo Nightmare Prize Contender". Cargo Law. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  15. ↑ Winfield, Nicole (8 May 2013). "Italy cargo ship crash: Nine people feared dead after collision with Genoa port control tower". The Independent. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  16. ↑ "MV Sewol". www.ytn.co.kr. Retrieved 2020-09-16.
  17. ↑ "DCA15RM024.aspx". www.ntsb.gov. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  18. ↑ Byrne, Matt (7 October 2015). "After 6 days, Coast Guard ends search for survivors of El Faro sinking". Press Herald. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  19. ↑ Staff (3 February 2016). "Ro/Ro Modern Express Successfully Taken in Tow". Maritime Executive. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  20. ↑ Yonazi, Jim James (18 December 2018). "Training in Alertness Crucial to Mitigate Disaster Effects". Daily News. Tanzania Standard Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  21. ↑ "Five presumed dead, 16 rescued after fire on Pacific vehicle carrier". PROFESSIONAL MARINER. Maritime Publishing. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  22. ↑ "Fire-Stricken Grande America Sinks off France". World Maritime News. Offshore Energy. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  23. ↑ Capuzzo, Nicola (2019-05-15). "Grimaldi car carrier Grande Europa catches fire in the Mediterranean". Splash247. Retrieved 2023-07-30.
  24. ↑ Williams, Marcus (2019-06-19). "Fire on K-Line car carrier forces crew to abandon ship". Automotive Logistics. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  25. ↑ Sasayama, Taishi (2019-07-03). "高級外車、届かず顧客やきもき ３千台超載せた船が火災：朝日新聞デジタル". 朝日新聞デジタル (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
  26. ↑ Alonso, Melissa; Andone, Dakin (9 September 2019). "Four crew members are missing after a cargo ship capsized off the Georgia coast". CNN. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  27. ↑ "Golden Ray shipwreck burning in St. Simons Sound". WJXT. 2021-05-14. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  28. ↑ Jokes, Nick; Lorenz, Maggie; Avanier, Erik (2020-06-04). "Fire aboard cargo ship still burning; 9 firefighters recovering after explosion". WJXT. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  29. ↑ Johnson, Scott (2020-08-30). "Cargo ship moved from Blount Island after June fire". WJXT. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  30. ↑ Day, Lewin (16 February 2022). "Cargo Ship Full of Porsches, Bentleys and VWs Is On Fire and Adrift in the Atlantic [UPDATED]". The Drive. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  31. ↑ "Massive cargo ship carrying cars sinks in mid-Atlantic". Associated Press. March 2022.
  32. ↑ Papadimas, Lefteris; Amante, Angelo (19 February 2022). "Twelve still missing after blaze engulfs Greece-Italy ferry". Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 March 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  33. ↑ "Cargo ship sink". NY Post. 17 March 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  34. ↑ Ross, Shane; Edwards, Danielle (22 July 2022). "Fire forces evacuation of P.E.I.-N.S. ferry as fisherman, first responders rush to rescue". CBC News. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  35. ↑ Watson, Michelle; Levenson, Eric; Alonso, Melissa; Sylla, Zenebou (8 July 2023). "Cargo ship fire in Newark is contained days after 2 firefighters died and 6 were injured, officials say". CNN. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  36. ↑ Van Campenhout, Charlotte; Jaiswal, Rishabh (26 July 2023). "Ship carrying 3,000 cars ablaze off Dutch coast, crew member dead". Reuters. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  37. ↑ Chambers, Sam (2025-06-24). "Fire-damaged Morning Midas car carrier sinks". Splash247. Retrieved 2025-06-24.
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