At least 25 people were killed and five others remained missing on Thursday following a devastating fire aboard a cargo vessel undergoing repairs at a shipyard in the northeastern Chinese port city of Qingdao, according to state media.
State broadcaster CCTV reported that the vessel, which had 42 people on board, caught fire at approximately 11:15 a.m. local time. The blaze was finally extinguished around 2:30 p.m. (0630 UTC).
The ship was identified as the 190-meter (623-foot) bulk carrier “Ocean Melody,” sailing under a Liberian flag, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
Cause remains unclear
Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued “important instructions” to launch a search and rescue operation and to call for an investigation into those potentially responsible for the incident, Xinhua added.
Xi emphasized that “all regions and relevant departments must draw profound lessons from this incident, thoroughly investigate and rectify all types of fire hazards.”
As of now, it remains unclear what sparked the fire.
The vessel was undergoing repairs at Qingdao’s Beihai Shipbuilding Co., part of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), one of the world’s largest shipbuilders.