All seafarers have been taken off a bulker that was hit by fire at an Indonesian port on Saturday.
The blaze began in the engine room of the 11,200-dwt urea carrier Abusamah (built 1984) at Cilegon, Java, the Ministry of Transportation’s directorate general of sea transportation said.
A ministry spokesperson said the salvage operation was carried out with national search and rescue agency Basarnas and the navy.
The vessel was loading ammonium phosphate at the time of the fire.
“Abusamah was reported to have experienced a fire incident at 07:00 local time. [It] burned while loading fertiliser at jetty 3B Krakatau International Port. The fire was first seen from the ship’s engine room at around 05:30,” the spokesperson said, according to the Tribun website.
The bulker had already loaded about 1,300 tonnes when the incident began.
The spokesman said quick action was taken to partly evacuate the ship.
The captain and five other crew members remained on board for a time before the final evacuation operation.
The vessel was later towed by a tug from the berth to an anchorage for safety reasons as firefighting continued.
No injuries were reported among the crew of 27.
That afternoon, the fire was brought under control by three tugs. Cooling operations were continued, however.
The Abusamah had left Semarang on Thursday.
The vessel has no port state control detentions on its record.
Operator Pupuk Sriwidjaja Palembang has been contacted for further information.
The port of Cilegon is owned by Krakatau Bandar Samudera.
