Deadly oil tanker explosion kills one in Hong Kong
- 5 years ago
HONG KONG — An explosion ripped through an oil tanker off the coast of Hong Kong.
According to the South China Morning Post reports, the Aulac Fortune is a 472-foot oil tanker with a 25-member Vietnamese crew. It unloaded oil cargo in Dongguan, China on Sunday, and stopped one nautical mile from Hong Kong's Lamma Island to refuel while en route to Thailand.
While connecting hoses with an oil barge on Tuesday morning, crew members reportedly heard three explosions on the tanker.
As fire broke out on the tanker's deck, sailors fell or jumped into the sea to escape the growing blaze.
It took firefighters five hours to extinguish the flames on the tanker. One man died and seven others were injured, among them a Singaporean crew on the oil barge. Two are still missing.
Yiu Men-yeung, Fire Services Department's division commander for marine and diving, told the South China Morning Post that there was no risk of the vessel sinking or of an oil leak, despite it tilting 30 degrees.
According to the South China Morning Post reports, the Aulac Fortune is a 472-foot oil tanker with a 25-member Vietnamese crew. It unloaded oil cargo in Dongguan, China on Sunday, and stopped one nautical mile from Hong Kong's Lamma Island to refuel while en route to Thailand.
While connecting hoses with an oil barge on Tuesday morning, crew members reportedly heard three explosions on the tanker.
As fire broke out on the tanker's deck, sailors fell or jumped into the sea to escape the growing blaze.
It took firefighters five hours to extinguish the flames on the tanker. One man died and seven others were injured, among them a Singaporean crew on the oil barge. Two are still missing.
Yiu Men-yeung, Fire Services Department's division commander for marine and diving, told the South China Morning Post that there was no risk of the vessel sinking or of an oil leak, despite it tilting 30 degrees.