The 18,500 ton vessel caught fire in the North Sea while carrying a heavy load of luxury cars including BMWs and Mercedes estimated to be worth nearly £100million.

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The blaze ripped through the “Fremantle Highway” last month, sparking a huge emergency operation with helicopters and boats battling to rescue to crew.

The boat had been sailing from Germany to Egypt when a fire broke out on July 26 just off the coast of the Netherlands.

One crew member died in the blaze, and several others were injured and airlifted to hospital due to smoke inhalation.

The first photos to emerge following the intense floating inferno reveal a graveyard of cars on the upper decks.

On these floors, all that is left is the skeletons of cars burnt nearly to dust.

The incinerated vehicles are unrecognisable after melting into the ship’s structure.

It was initially reported by emergency services that an electric car’s battery was responsible for the fire, however the salvage team later cast doubt on this claim.

The cause of the fire is still unclear as the salvage companies maintain that the investigation is ongoing.

Around 1,100 cars were survived the fire as they were parked on the bottom floors of the carrier, including 500 electric vehicles.

On Saturday, the pain-staking process of unloading the salvageable cars began in the Dutch port of Eemshaven on the Ems estuary.

Roadworthy cars were able to be driven out of the ruins of the cargo ship after being washed thoroughly to correctly dispose of the waste water.

The technology and optics of the in-tact cars will now have to be carefully checked.

The difficult unloading mission is aiming to get out 1,000 cars from the lower decks in under a week.

The huge vessel is allowed to remain there until late October when it will be towed to another location to likely be scrapped.

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