Two large oil tankers were on fire on Friday in waters near Singapore, the world’s biggest refueling port, with two crew members airlifted to hospital and others rescued from liferafts, authorities said.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said it was alerted to a fire on Friday at 6:15 a.m. (2215 GMT) onboard both a Singapore-flagged tanker, Hafnia Nile, and a Sao Tome and Principe-flagged tanker, Ceres I.
The vessels were about 55 km (34 miles) northeast of the Singaporean island of Pedra Branca on the eastern approach to the Singapore Straits.
A helicopter had evacuated two crew members to Singapore General Hospital, MPA said, without elaborating.
In a statement on social media, Singapore Navy said the frigate RSS Supreme had rescued the crews from the vessels and was providing medical assistance. It did not immediately give details.
Photographs released by the Navy showed thick black smoke billowing from one tanker and crew being rescued from liferafts and flown to hospital.
The cause of the fires was not immediately clear.
Malaysia’s maritime enforcement agency said in a statement it initiated a search and rescue operation at the location of the oil tankers.
Malaysia’s department of environment has also been informed to prepare for further action in case of oil spills, it added.
The 74,000 deadweight-tons capacity Panamax tanker Hafnia Nile (IMO 9766217) was carrying about 300,000 barrels of naphtha, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG.
It was not immediately clear what fuel Ceres I (IMO 9229439) was carrying. The tanker is a very-large-crude-carrier (VLCC) of 300,000 deadweight-tons capacity and was last marked as carrying Iranian crude between March to April, ship-tracking data showed.
The Ceres I tanker has been involved in transporting Iranian oil and also Venezuelan oil to China in recent years, shipping sources said. Its China-based owner could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.
Singapore is Asia’s biggest oil trading hub and the world’s largest bunkering port and surrounding waters are vital trade waterways between Asia and Europe and the Middle East.
(Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Writing by Lincoln Feast; editing by Jacqueline Wong and Miral Fahmy)
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