The Zim Kingston is anchored off the city of Victoria in British Columbia, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca which marks the maritime border between Canada and the US, according to the marine tracking site MarineTraffic.

It had been bound for Vancouver when the flames erupted, with the fire reported to the coast guard at around 11pm local time Saturday, CBC News reported.

“The ship is on fire and expelling toxic gas,” the Canadian coast guard said in a navigational warning on its website.

Later a statement on the coast guard’s Twitter account said 16 people had been evacuated from the Zim Kingston “after a fire broke out in ten containers”.

“The fire remains a dynamic event and an incident command post has been set up to manage the situation, the statement early yesterday said, adding that responders were mobilising to fight the fire and recover containers that broke away from the ship Friday.

“Currently there is no safety risk to people on shore, however the situation will continue to be monitored,” the tweet said.

Yesterday the coast guard said an emergency zone around the ship had been expanded to two nautical miles, up from one mile the day before.

“Due to the nature of chemicals onboard the container ship, applying water directly to the fire is not an option,” they said, adding that a tugboat had instead sprayed cold water on the hull.

Later, however, the vessel’s manager Danaos Shipping said in a statement that the incident was caused by “excessive listing due to extreme weather”, and indicated the fire was contained.

“No injuries were reported. The fire appears to have been contained and Danaos have commissioned a salvage and fire extinguishing agency to come on board in order to ensure that conditions are appropriate for the safe return of the vessel’s crew,” the company added.

The coast guard said the ship is carrying more than 52,000kg of chemicals located in two of the containers that are on fire, according to CBC News.