04 Jan 2017 / Hong Kong
The Marine Department of the government of the HKSAR has reported that a locally licensed fishing vessel caught fire while she was moored side by side with other fishing vessels in a typhoon shelter last week.
The fire rapidly spread to other vessels and a total of 29 vessels burnt out or sunk, and five people were slightly injured in the incident.
The investigation into the incident revealed that:
a) the fire might have been caused by a short-circuit fault of an electric power cable or an electric leakage in the cabin of the fishing vessel
b) the fisherman did not carry out a regular patrol of the vessel’s cabin and the engine room. When the fire broke out, the fisherman did not take any action to fight the fire but escaped immediately. Since the best time to control the fire was missed, the fire subsequently went out of control
c) there were many vessels moored side by side to stay in groups in the typhoon shelter. Wind effect and cooking gas cylinder explosion caused the rapid spread of fire resulting in many vessels burnt out or sunk.
In order to avoid the recurrence of a similar accident, the attention of owners, coxswains and/or persons in charge of all locally licensed vessels are drawn to the following important advice:
a) when vessels are moored together in a typhoon shelter, a fire watch must be maintained by conducting regular patrols of cabins and engine rooms
b) it is necessary to inspect regularly and maintain all shipboard electrical appliances and the power supply systems in a good condition for the prevention of short-circuit faults or electric leakage
c) it is necessary to minimise the amount of flammable materials and cooking gas cylinders (not more than 50 kg of LPG capacity) stored onboard and to keep them away from fire hazards
d) it is necessary to enhance training of crew members for dealing with fire emergency situations familiarise them with fire-fighting procedures
and the use of fire-fighting equipment.
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