All 19 seafarers have been rescued from a fire-hit floating storage unit off Nigeria.
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said over the weekend that the incident began on Thursday on the 80,000-barrel-capacity Brittania-U (built 2000).
Video footage showed the vessel engulfed by orange flames and black smoke, apparently significantly damaged and down in the water, 11 nautical miles (20 km) south of the Forcados terminal.
NIMASA said it worked with other agencies to make the safety of the crew the main priority.
The agency was alerted by the regional Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre that the FSO was in distress.
“All 19 crew members on board the ill-fated Brittania-U drilling platform were successfully rescued from the vessel,” NIMASA said.
Director general of NIMASA, Dayo Mobereola, has set up an incident command centre to “prepare an effective situation-based response plan against oil spillage or other incidents affecting the marine environment and safety of navigation”.
The agency has also started a probe into the accident.
The Nigerian-flagged vessel is owned by Brittania-U Nigeria of Lagos.
Brittania-U said the vessel was sited at the former OML 90 field, now PNL 6, off Warri state.
The company has begun a thorough investigation to determine the cause, it added.
The Brittania-U’s insurer is not known.
The FSO was contracted as a newbuilding by its current owner in 1998, according to UK shipbroker Clarksons.
