A fire aboard a cargo ship moored for repairs at Qingdao Port in eastern China has killed at least 25 people. The Liberia-flagged vessel had 42 people on board when the fire broke out.
The incident occurred shortly after 11am local time on Thursday, September 10. The British newspaper The Independent reported the incident.
The vessel was undergoing repairs at Qingdao’s Beihai Shipbuilding Company. Images released by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency identified the ship as the “Ocean Melody.” According to vessel-tracking website VesselFinder, the ship sails under the Liberian flag.
The fire was brought under control by around 2:30pm, about three and a half hours after it broke out. Twelve people were safely evacuated from the vessel, five of whom were admitted to hospital. Their conditions were reported to be stable. Videos circulating online showed crew members attempting to extinguish the fire aboard the ship.
The vessel had arrived at Qingdao Port on August 31 for repairs after travelling north from Jiangsu Province. It had been scheduled to leave Qingdao Port on Sunday. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered an urgent rescue operation to locate those reported missing after the fire. He stressed the need to fully implement measures to prevent accidents and take effective steps to avoid major disasters.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang also instructed emergency rescue teams to rescue people trapped aboard the vessel and ensure that the injured receive prompt medical treatment. He also called for vigilance against secondary disasters following the incident. Li urged authorities to thoroughly identify workplace risks and take specific measures to prevent similar accidents in the future.
Beihai Shipbuilding is a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), a state-controlled company. CSSC is one of the world’s largest shipbuilding enterprises, with shipbuilding and ship repair among the main activities of the Beihai facility.
The incident is the second fire at a Chinese shipbuilding facility in less than a month. On August 13, a firefighter was killed in an explosion at a shipbuilding plant in southeastern China’s Fujian Province. Located across the Taiwan Strait, Fujian is one of China’s major centres for shipbuilding and ship repair.