Tanker catches fire off HK waters
23 rescued after jumping or falling off stricken vessel
A Vietnam-registered oil tanker burst into flames as it prepares to refuel at an anchorage off Hong Kong’s southern coast. One person has been confirmed dead, 23 others have been rescued while two people are missing. It is believed the tanker was also carrying chemicals as well as oil, with ship-tracking websites MarineTraffic and VesselFinder both classifying the ship as an ‘oil/chemical tanker’.
HONG KONG: At least one man has died after an oil tanker caught fire off Hong Kong, authorities said, sending a huge cloud of dark smoke billowing into the air.
Twenty-three people have been rescued after those on the vessel either fell or jumped into the sea, according to a police spokesman, while two people are missing. A number of the victims suffered burns, and the government said two injured men were taken to hospital.
In a picture posted by the Hong Kong police, the tanker was seen listing sharply with large plumes of black smoke coming from its middle and flames still burning on the deck.
“I felt my boat shaking. The tremble came from the sea,” said speedboat driver Michael Kwok, who said he heard three explosions while out on his boat nearby.
Hours after initial reports of the oil tanker catching fire in waters south of outlying Lamma Island, emergency services were still battling to contain the scene.
A Hong Kong government statement said firefighters were using four jets to contain the blaze and a fireboat was seen spraying two streams of water into the sea near the tilted side of the tanker on the right, according to a reporter at the scene, with a mass of twisted metal on the deck and a charred exterior wall bearing a “No Smoking” sign.
Three more fireboats, a helicopter and a police boat were also circling the scene.
“I heard several banging and rumbling sounds, like someone with big hands knocking my glass door,” a resident of Lamma Island’s Mo Tat New Village, who gave his name as Shu, said.
He added that a smaller banging sound followed about 10 seconds later.
A fisherman from Lamma Island told local news channel i-Cable he first heard explosions and then saw “dense smoke” followed by a “ball of fire”.
The name on the front of the tanker was Aulac Fortune, which the Hong Kong marine department tracker website showed as arriving at the South Lamma anchorage at 2.58am yesterday local time.