On a pitch black dawn, a 6,239 ton shipment of goods for sale in Tongyeong was engulfed in a fierce flame.
Fortunately, all of the 60 crew members on board were rescued. How was the power rescue possible while the shipment was burning for 12 hours after the fire broke out?
On the morning of September 11th, a fire broke out in a 6,239 ton-class shipment from 57km offshore in Tongyeong, Gyeongnam.
There were 49 Koreans, 10 Vietnamese, and 60 Italians on board.
At 3:51 a.m., a report of a fire on a marine vessel was filed at the coast, and at 4:05 a.m., a 92-ton class small and medium-sized tugboat that was working together hundreds of meters away, the first to run to the fire site.
All of the crew members who were working on cable installation overnight gathered on top of the ship to check the personnel.
At 4:27 a.m., all 60 crew members were quickly evacuated by a tugboat, and at 5:01 a.m., they were transferred to a nearby 1,999-ton cable carrier.
The offshore vessel arrived at the site at 5:16 am and started suppression work.
The sea police urgently transported four crew members who appear to have inhaled the smoke using a rescue helicopter.
The coast guard is still extinguishing the fire as of 4 PM, the 12th hour of the fire.
It is a situation in which fire suppression and safety management are being carried out at the same time due to the fear of a ship sinking.
In the fired vessel, 234 tons of bunker C oil and 2,000 liters of lubricant are loaded.
The Coast Guard said, "Thanks to the fast rescue of nearby ships, we were able to prevent great damage."
The Coast Guard has secured a statement that "a fire has started near the engine room" and is a policy to accurately investigate the cause of the fire.
(Composition: Eul-seon Cho, editor: Seung-yeon Park, screen courtesy: Maritime Police Agency)