A fire aboard a foreign-flagged cargo vessel undergoing repairs at a state-owned shipyard in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao killed 25 people, Chinese state media reported. The blaze broke out at about 11:15 a.m. local time at the Qingdao Beihai shipyard during repair and inspection works, according to state-run Xinhua. Of the 42 people onboard, 12 were evacuated safely and five were injured and hospitalized, while the remaining 25 were confirmed dead after search efforts continued into the evening. The vessel involved was identified as the Ocean Melody, a 20-year-old Liberia-flagged dry bulk carrier managed by Yuyangkunpeng Shanghai Ship Management and owned by Huili Shipping Co. Ltd., with LSEG ship-tracking data showing it had arrived at the shipyard on August 31 for repair work.
The shipyard, Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding Co., is a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), which describes itself as China’s principal naval shipbuilder and the country’s largest designer and builder of ships and offshore equipment. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for intensified search and rescue efforts following the fire, along with a swift investigation and accountability measures, urging authorities to draw lessons from the incident and rectify fire hazards. The blaze was extinguished by early afternoon, but the cause remained under investigation as of Thursday evening, with Chinese authorities yet to disclose what sparked it during maintenance operations at one of the country’s major shipbuilding and repair hubs.
Source: gCaptain (Reuters) — https://gcaptain.com/shipyard-fire-kills-25-aboard-bulk-carrier-in-china/
Tags: China, Shipyard Safety, CSSC, Bulk Carrier
