(MENAFN- Asia Times)
A fire broke out on a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Tuesday morning, which was quickly spotted by a Filipino fisherman who immediately alerted the captain and nine-member crew, who escaped unharmed.
At 5:23am on October 23, the Fleet Branch of the Coast Guard Administration received a call f0r help from Keelung Port Radio after a fire was reported on a New Taipei City-registered fishing vessel about six nautical miles north of Yehliu, the cape on the north coast of Taiwan, the Liberty Times reported.
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The fire spread quickly and the Taiwanese captain and his eight crew members – one Taiwanese, three mainland Chinese, two Indonesians, and two Filipinos – decided to give up trying to extinguish it and jumped into the sea. They were rescued by other fishing vessels nearby.
They returned to Wanli Fishing Harbor at about 9:30am and no injuries were reported.
Meanwhile, the fire on the boat was thought to have been bought under control by the Coast Guard Administration after two hours of firing continuous water jets at it, but it flared up again at about 9:15am. The fire on the boat was eventually extinguished later that afternoon.
A preliminary investigation revealed that a Filipino crewman first noticed the fire in the power chamber, which was not extinguished by the carbon dioxide fire extinguishing system and instead spread.
The Taiwanese captain ordered the crew to abandon ship and joined them in the sea.
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