A fire on a cargo ship under repair at one of China’s busiest ports has killed at least 25 people, prompting President Xi Jinping to order an urgent rescue operation and an investigation into responsibility for the incident.
Five people remained missing after the blaze aboard the Ocean Melody, a 190-meter (623-foot) Liberia-flagged bulk carrier docked at a shipyard in Qingdao. The ship was undergoing repairs at Qingdao’s Beihai Shipbuilding Co, part of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), one of the world’s largest shipbuilders.
The fire began at around 11:15 local time (03:15 GMT) while maintenance work was under way. It was put out just over three hours later, around 2:30 p.m. (0630 UTC). The cause has yet to be established.
There were 42 people aboard the vessel. Accounts differed over the number evacuated. One figure put the total at 17, while another said 12 people were safely evacuated. Five evacuated people were in hospital in stable condition.
An eyewitness told the AFP news agency that thick smoke rose from the ship. He said he had heard no explosion.
Xi called for ‘all-out’ search and rescue efforts and issued what were described as ‘important instructions’ for a rescue mission. He also called for an inquiry into anyone who could be responsible.
“All regions and relevant departments must draw profound lessons from this incident, thoroughly investigate and rectify all types of fire hazards,” Xi said.
Premier Li Qiang called for efforts to rescue people described as ‘trapped’. He urged authorities to “strictly prevent secondary disasters”.
The fire occurred at a port central to Qingdao’s role as a major trading hub. The Ocean Melody arrived in Qingdao on 31 August, according to the tracking site MarineTraffic.
The incident follows a shipyard explosion in the south-eastern Chinese province of Fujian nearly a month earlier. That explosion killed a rescue worker and injured 12 others.
Search operations and the investigation were continuing. The number of people who remain unaccounted for, the precise evacuation total and the origin of the fire were unclear.
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