A fire on a cargo ship left 25 people dead this Thursday (10) in Qingdao, a port city in Shandong province, east China. The vessel was docked for maintenance when the flames started.
According to the state broadcaster CCTVthere were 42 people on board. Twelve were evacuated to safety and five were injured and hospitalized. Another 25 were considered missing, but were later found dead, according to the agency. Xinhua.
The initial balance showed 20 dead and five missing.
The fire started at around 11:15 am local time (00:15 am in Brasília), at the Beihai Shipbuilding facilities, and was controlled at 2:30 pm (3:30 am in Brasília).
A Xinhua released an image of the vessel, identified as Ocean Melody, moored at the shipyard and surrounded by fire trucks. According to the MarineTraffic monitoring website, the cargo ship is 190 meters long and sails under the Liberian flag.
A resident of an area close to the port told the agency AFP who saw smoke coming from the vessel, but did not notice explosions. “I saw smoke coming from the ship by chance, but I didn’t see any fire,” he reported.
Xi demands investigation
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered the causes of the fire to be investigated and accountability for possible irregularities.
According to XinhuaXi said local authorities and responsible bodies should “draw profound lessons from the incident” and investigate possible fire risks to prevent further accidents.
Beihai Shipbuilding is an important shipyard in Qingdao and part of the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).
The cause of the fire has not yet been reported by Chinese authorities. In August, an explosion followed by fire at a shipyard in Fujian province killed a firefighter and a rescue worker and left 12 other people injured, according to state media.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
