Major fire on board of boxship WAN HAI 307, Hong Kong: UPDATE
Sept. 20, 2016 at 05:12 by Mikhail Voytenko
UPDATE Morning Sep 21: According to latest available information, open fire was extinguished, but some containers containing dangerous goods are still emitting smoke, temperature in fire area is still too high, fire fighting operation is still on.
As usual with container ships fire, nobody can tell for sure what is loaded in burned containers and containers nearby, how high is the risk of fire renewal, of explosions or of dangerous goods spill or fumes leak. In each such case fire fighters have to be absolutely sure, that fire is extinguished, before cleansing the mess.
Fire erupted in containers loaded in fore section of a container ship WAN HAI 307 in the afternoon Sep 19 off Hong Kong, on a voyage from Kaohsiung Taiwan to Hong Kong. Vessel reported fire to HK authorities, saying that crew is trying to extinguish fire, but unsuccessfully. Fire went out of control, at around 2100 HK time Sep 19 vessel anchored west of Lamma island.
Salvage ships and tugs are on the scene, trying to put fire under control, firefighting team boarded vessel. Some containers on fire or near fire reported to contain dangerous goods. On photos WAN HAI 307 fire. Crew understood to be evacuated.
