Fire on oil tankers at South Korean port injures ten

By Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) - Ten workers at a South Korean port were injured after a fire broke out onboard two oil tankers, coastguard and fire officials told Reuters on Saturday.

The fire has now been largely put out, they added.

An explosion occurred on the Stolt Groenland, a 25,000-tonne, Cayman Island-flagged oil tanker, at the southern port of Ulsan at around 10:50 a.m. (0150 GMT), a coastguard official said.

There were 25 sailors aboard, including Russians and Filipinos.

The fire spread to another oil tanker docked nearby, the 9,000-tonne, South Korean-flagged Bau Dalian, with 21 aboard, he said.

All of the sailors on both ships were rescued, but 10 people, most of whom were workers at the terminal, were wounded, a fire official told Reuters. Nine of them were South Korean, including one in a critical condition, and the other was from India.

“The fire has largely been put out but we are checking inside the vessels if there are any flames left or smoke coming out,” the first official said.

Any impact on the terminal's output or the surrounding environment appears minimal for now as the ships were at the port for repair, he added.

The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the incident and police have blocked traffic in the area in case of a further blast, officials said.