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 crew of a cargo ship carrying around 3,000 vehicles, including 800 electric vehicles, abandoned it off the coast of Alaska after a fire broke out onboard, its operator Zodiac Maritime said on Wednesday.

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.