2 suffer serious burns in cargo ship fire off Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung, June 12 (CNA) Two crew members suffered serious burns after a cargo ship caught fire 17 nautical miles southwest of Kaohsiung Port Wednesday morning.

In a statement, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said it received a call from the Hui Feng following a fire on board the cargo ship at around 8 a.m.

Rescue personnel then airlifted two seriously injured crew members, a Taiwanese and an Indonesian man, both in their 50s, to hospital by helicopter, the CGA said.

After failing to bring the fire under control, the Hui Feng's captain ordered the vessel's crew to abandon ship around 9 a.m., the CGA said.

Coast Guard boats then ferried the captain and the Hui Feng's nine remaining crew members, one of whom later received hospital treatment for burns, to port, the CGA added.

Coast Guard personnel are still trying to extinguish the fire on board the Hui Feng, although there are no signs the vessel is leaking fuel, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Maritime and Port Bureau South Taiwan Maritime affairs center has convened a contingency meeting, the source said.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.