+ Click to Enlarge HIGH ROLLER: The Coast Guard cutter Rush on standby with the disabled Cougar Ace in North Pacific Ocean. Picture: AP/US Coast Guard

July 28, 2006

Vancouver, British Columbia - The fate of thousands of Mazda cars was uncertain this week after the ship carrying them to North America rolled on its side in the Pacific Ocean.

The Cougar Ace rolled sideways when the massive ship's ballast tank was adjusted.

The automaker had 4700 vehicles aboard the automobile carrier Cougar Ace that began taking on water on Sunday and listed so heavily that the 23 crew had to be rescued by the US Coast Guard.

The 199.3m Mitsui O.S.K. Lines ship was still afloat on Wednesday with its keel and propeller out of the water and did not appear to be sinking.

A Coast Guard cutter was standing by near the Cougar Ace, about 370km south of Alaska's Aleutian Islands, and waiting for a salvage ship to arrive.

Mazda imports most of its vehicles to North America from Japan. The shipment aboard the Cougar Ace was bound for Vancouver in British Columbia, Tacoma in Washington and then Port Hueneme near Ventura in California, said Mazda spokesman Jeremy Barnes.

More than half the cars on board are Mazda 3 models, the automaker's best-selling vehicle. Another quarter of the cars are Mazda's 2007 CX7 crossovers, Barnes added.

"We don't know the condition of the cargo or whether it will have to be scrapped."

The Coast Guard said nobody was allowed on the ship but the agency said it was making preparations in case the salvage company wanted to tow the Cougar Ace into Alaskan waters. - Reuters