Japan oil tanker explodes off SW coast; 1 missing
Source: USA Today
TOKYO (AP) A Japanese oil tanker exploded Thursday off the country's southwest coast near Himeji port, leaving one of the eight people aboard missing, the coast guard said. Four others were severely injured.
Photos and video from the scene showed billowing clouds of black smoke as coast guard vessels sought to douse the fire, which gutted the middle of the Shoko Maru, a 998-ton tanker based in the western city of Hiroshima.
Seven people were rescued, though four suffered severe burns, public broadcaster NHK reported. A search was underway for the missing man, the tanker's captain, it said.
The cause of the explosion was unclear, said coast guard spokesman Koji Takarada. NHK said crew members were working on the deck of the tanker at the time of the blast.
Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/05/29/japan-tanker-explodes/9705851/?
Images from scene showed clouds of black smoke as authorities sought to put out fire
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)Japan is such a beautiful country and these man made disasters are killing the environment.
Rhiannon12866
(203,037 posts)And it's going to affect generations to come.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)...and was empty. However, the black, billowing smoke is troubling. Unless it's from the oil residue caked on the sides of the hold?
olddad56
(5,732 posts)arikara
(5,562 posts)fouling their nest. What a crying shame.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)arikara
(5,562 posts)Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)Update: The vessel has reportedly sunk due to damages sustained. Akihiro Komura, a spokesperson from the vessel owner Syoho Shipping Co. was quoted by the AFP as saying, I heard that a crew member was using a grinder to remove paint and that seems to have triggered the blast, which we believe could have occurred when the remnants of the oil caught fire.
It is a Japanese ship and belongs to our company. All the crew members are Japanese nationals. We have confirmed seven out of the eight are alive and one, believed to be the captain, is still missing.
Four crewmembers are reported to have sustained serious burns in the explosion.
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