Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 07, 2003
Overheating Cargo Blamed for Fire on Panamanian Ship off Shenzhen
An overheating cargo of dangerous goods, including cigarette lighters, caused the fire on a Panama-registered container ship off Shenzhen, south China, a source with Shenzhen Maritime Bureau said Wednesday.
An overheating cargo of dangerous goods, including cigarette lighters, caused the fire on a Panama-registered container ship off Shenzhen, south China, a source with Shenzhen Maritime Bureau said Wednesday.
Emergency workers from both Shenzhen and neighboring Hong Kong worked for 12 hours to bring the fire on the Itutile under controlafter it was reported at 9 a.m. on Sunday in Dapeng Bay, off Guangdong Province.
Dangerous goods were stored in 47 containers and emergency workers had to remove twenty-five of them from the fire site, including eight holding cigarette lighters.
Billowing smoke came from 60 containers. Shenzhen mobilized fire tenders which sprayed the containers with water.
All 14 Taiwanese crew members aboard the ship were reported safe.
The ship from Ningbo port carried 3,709 containers. It was waiting for permission to enter Yantian port in Shenzhen when the fire broke out.