Fire wrecks historic sailing ship replica

Fire destroyed a replica of the 17th-century flagship of the Dutch East India Company in the Netherlands today.

The three-mast tall ship, which was built in the 1980s, was moored at Holland Village in Nagasaki, Japan, for many years before it returned to the northern Dutch port of Den Helder in 2003 and became a tourist attraction.

The fire broke out on the Prins Willem in the early hours and firefighters could not bring it under control. The cause was not known.

The original ship, built in 1649, was the largest ship of the Dutch trading company. It sank in 1662 off Madagascar.