Oh Frigate!: Ship Carrying 2800 Luxury Cars Sinks - Crew Rescued

LONDON/PARIS, Dec 14 (Reuters) - A Norwegian-registered ship carrying hundreds of luxury cars sank in the North Sea on Saturday after a collision with a container ship in thick fog.

All 24 crew members were rescued before the cargo ship Tricolor sank after the collision at the entrance of the Dover Strait between England and France.

The ship was carrying 2,862 cars, including BMWs, Volvos and Saabs, worth $40 million to $50 million, a spokesman for Norwegian shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines said in Oslo. It also carried tractors, crane parts and escalators in 77 roll-on/roll-off containers.

Also aboard Tricolor was about 2,000 tons of fuel oil, according to Lloyd's Casualty Reporting Service.

The Belgian coastguard said there was a slight leakage, but the Belgian sea rescue service said it was not aware any oil had spilled.

Lieutenant-Commander Antoine Goulley of the French navy told LCI television in the northern port of Cherbourg that French and British authorities had launched a plan to prevent any pollution risk, but he also said there was no evidence that oil had spilled.

Lloyd's said the Tricolor, which was taking its cargo from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Southampton in southern England, was now lying in about 25 metres of water.

Lloyd's said the container ship, the Bahamas-registered Kariba, was seriously damaged but was making its own way to the Belgian port of Antwerp.

The Tricolor's captain and two officers were taken aboard the Kariba, British and French coastguards said.

The rest of the mostly Filipino crew was picked up by a tugboat and taken to hospital in the French port Dunkirk, but there were no reports of injuries, the coastguards said.

The Belgian military frigate Wandelaar was ensuring security above the Tricolor, while the Franco-British tugboat Far Turbot was on its way to the area, French authorities said in a statement.