February 15, 2007 - TheAge.com.au
Advertisement The key vessel of the Japanese whaling fleet, the
factory ship Nisshin Maru, is on fire and has been evacuated in Antarctica.
The 8,000 tonne Nisshin Maru issued a distress call around 4 am
eastern Australian summer time after the fire broke out below decks,
according to the search and rescue co-ordination centre at Maritime New Zealand.
Of the 162 people on board, 120 were evacuated onto three other ships
in the Japanese fleet, and the remainder had stayed aboard to fight the fire, Maritime New Zealand's spokesman, Lindsay Sturt , told theage.com.au.
"It's suspected the fire is in the engine room of the ship, but that
is not certain yet," Mr Sturt said. "It doesn't appear that the vessel
is in danger of sinking, and we have no report of injuries. The fire is still going."
Mr Sturt could not confirm a report of an explosion ahead of the
fire,
and he said its cause was not known.
"There is no indication of how it originated," he said.
He said the crew who remained on board would likely attempt to seal
off the area where the fire was, and douse it with extinguishing gases.
The ship is believed to be in the Ross Sea, where the weather
conditions are good, with no swell and light winds.
Greenpeace's Esperanza, which had been searching for the whaling
fleet, answered the mayday call, but was stood down by Maritime New Zealand
in favour of closer ships.
The Sea Shepherd ships, Robert Hunter and Farley Mowat, reported on Thursday that they were heading for Australia, from a position that put them several days steaming away from the Ross Sea.
It was the third distress call in a week from the Antarctic, after
Sea Shepherd had to recover two crew from a disabled dinghy, and the
whale spotting ship Kaiko Maru called for help after it was involved in a collision with the Robert Hunter.
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