A salvage team is expected to arrive early next week at the scene of a cargo ship that was carrying about 3,000 vehicles to Mexico when it caught fire in waters off Alaska’s Aleutian island chain.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it would allow the fire to burn because the cars’ lithium-ion batteries could explode. The ship’s crew escaped on a lifeboat.

The crew of a cargo ship carrying thousands of vehicles from China to Mexico had to abandon the vessel off Alaska's Adak Island when they were unable to control a fire that broke out on board. The Liberian-flagged Morning Midas ship is carrying 3,