As per UK Coat Guard, Roll on roll off with container capacity Grande Brasile (IMO: 9198123), which issued a Mayday call, reporting an onboard fire, while transiting the southwest-bound lane of the Dover Strait TSS, approximately 15 nautical miles southeast of Ramsgate, in position lat 51 16 48N, long 001 49 36E, United Kingdom, at 0935, hrs, UTC, Feb 18: By 1212 hrs, UTC, the fire was extinguished, though there was still a lot of smoke.
The crew was cooling the cars to ensure there was no secondary fire. In two hours, they planned to ventilate the area and attempt to restore power. At 1623 hrs, UTC, the fire reignited onboard, and the crew attempted to extinguish it. At 1900 hrs, UTC, the vessel was at risk of grounding.
SOSREP was aware of the situation and trying to expedite assistance. At 2052 hrs, UTC, the tug Multratug 35 established a tow line to Grande Brasile. At 2110 hrs, UTC, the master of the vessel commenced evacuation. At 2214 hrs, UTC, MRCC Dover confirmed all persons were recovered from the lifeboat. At 2321 hrs, UTC, all persons were recovered to Ramsgate by the Ramsgate lifeboat. At 0044 hrs, UTC today, a 500-metre temporary exclusion zone (TEZ) was established around Grande Brasile.