At least 25 people have died after a devastating blaze erupted on a foreign-flagged cargo ship docked in a Chinese port.
The bulk carrier, moored in the shipping hub of Qingdao, had 42 people on board when the fire broke out at around 11.15am on Thursday, according to state media CCTV.
Seventeen people were safely rescued, including five people who were rushed to hospital. They remain in a stable condition, it is understood.
Emergency services tackled the huge fire in the city of Qingdao, a major shipping hub on the eastern Chinese coast, and successfully extinguished it by 2.30pm – more than three hours after it broke out.
Videos circulating online showed smoke billowing out from the vessel, blanketing its neighbouring ships, while fire engines were seen gathering near the ship. The cause of the fire is not known.
A witness described thick smoke coming from the ship but did not hear an explosion. ‘I saw the smoke from the ship by chance, but there was no visible fire,’ he said. ‘I didn’t hear an explosion or smell anything.’
The ship, which sails under a Liberian flag, has been identified as the Ocean Melody, according to the tracking website VesselFinder. It was being repaired at the Beihai Shipbuilding Company at the time of the fire, having arrived at the shipyard on August 31.
China‘s President Xi Jinping issued ‘important instructions’ to urgently conduct rescues of missing people on the ship, China’s Xinhua news agency said, adding that Premier Li Qiang called for ‘trapped’ people to be rescued.
Smoke billows out from a cargo ship that caught fire while docked at a port in the city Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong province
Fire engines were seen gathering near the ship after the fire broke out at around 11.15am on Thursday
The ship, which sails under a Liberian flag, has been identified as the Ocean Melody
Xi also called for ensuring ‘preventive measures are thoroughly implemented’ and ‘resolutely prevent major and catastrophic accidents’.
Beihai Shipbuilding is part of the state-controlled China State Shipbuilding Corporation, the world’s largest shipbuilder. Its main businesses include shipbuilding and ship repairing, according to Beihai Shipbuilding’s website.
There have been several major industrial accidents in China over the past year, where safety regulations are often lax.
An explosion and ensuing fire at a shipyard in eastern Fujian province in August killed one fire and rescue worker and injured 12 others, according to state media.
China launched a campaign against fire hazards in high-rise buildings in November after a huge blaze engulfed several residential tower blocks in Hong Kong, killing 168 people.
A blast at a fireworks factory in central China killed 37 people in May, marking one of the nation’s deadliest industrial accidents in years. And a fire in a shoe factory in Fujian in July killed at least 28 people.
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