The Republic of Singapore Air Force has airlifted two injured crew members to hospital in a search and rescue operation after fires broke out on the Hafnia Nile product tanker and another very large crude carrier (VLCC) in the South China Sea.
The Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said it had received an alert regarding fires onboard the Singapore-flagged, product tanker and the Sao Tome and Principe-flagged VLCC Ceres 1 at 6.15 am SGT (12.15am GMT) on July 19.
The vessels are located about 55km northeast of Pedra Branca, which is within Singapore’s maritime search and rescue region. It is unknown how many crew were aboard the vessels.
The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) ship, RSS Supreme, was currently at the location assisting the vessels, and a Republic of Singapore Air Force helicopter, Rescue 10, had been deployed to the scene, the MPA said in a statement.
According to an RSN Facebook post, crew who evacuated the vessels were rescued from a life raft and taken onboard the RSS Supreme. Two injured crew members were airlifted to Singapore and then transferred to the Singapore General Hospital for medical treatment.
Singapore maritime authorities have called on passing vessels to assist in the ongoing search and rescue operation. There is no further information available regarding what caused the fire on the two vessels.
The Hafnia Nile is operated by Singapore-headquartered Hafnia. According to Reuters, the vessel was carrying cargo of naphtha, a flammable liquid hydrocarbon, usually produced from a fraction of crude oil, while the Ceres 1 was last reported, between March and April, to be carrying crude oil from Iran.
