Twenty-five people died in a fire aboard a foreign cargo vessel undergoing repairs at the state-owned Qingdao Beihai shipyard in eastern China, according to state media.
The fire started at about 11:15 a.m. local time on Thursday while repair and inspection work was being carried out, state-run Xinhua reported. There were 42 people aboard the vessel at the time. Twelve were safely evacuated, while five others were injured and taken to hospital.
Context: Dry bulk shipping market explained
The blaze was extinguished by early afternoon, state media said.
Operational context
An image released by Xinhua identified the vessel as the Ocean Melody. Ship-tracking data from LSEG described the ship as a 20-year-old, Liberia-flagged dry bulk carrier managed by Yuyangkunpeng Shanghai Shp Mgm. Huili Shipping Co Ltd is listed as the vessel’s registered owner.
The Ocean Melody arrived at the Qingdao shipyard on August 31 and had remained there since, according to LSEG data.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for intensified search-and-rescue operations, a rapid investigation into the incident and measures to ensure accountability, Xinhua reported.
The shipyard is controlled by state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation, one of the world’s largest shipbuilders. China CSSC Holdings confirmed in a statement that a fire had occurred aboard a foreign-flagged cargo ship during maintenance work at the yard operated by its Qingdao subsidiary.
CSSC said the company and relevant authorities had mobilised resources at the site and that response efforts were continuing.
The group describes itself as China’s principal naval shipbuilder and the country’s largest designer and builder of ships and offshore equipment. A 2022 recruitment notice published by the CSSC-owned Qingdao business said the yard had annual shipbuilding capacity of 3 million deadweight tonnes and could repair 212 vessels per year.