HONG KONG — An oil tanker caught fire in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning, leaving one man dead and rescuers scrambling to find two other crew members who were missing. At least 23 others were rescued.
Crew members on the tanker had been connecting hoses with an oil barge for a refuel, officials said. Then there were three explosions before the tanker went up in flames.
“We could see that the victim who passed away had been burned,” Wong Wai-hang, a police representative, said in a briefing. “There were clear injuries on his head and fractures in his hands and feet.”
The tanker was listing by about 30 degrees, but authorities said it was not currently at risk of sinking. No oil spills were visible on the water’s surface.
A police spokesman said there were 25 Vietnamese crew members on the tanker when the blaze broke out, most of whom were rescued from the waters off the coast of Lamma Island. Four people were injured, including a Singaporean crew member. One critically injured crew member was being treated at an intensive care unit. Rescuers were still searching for two missing Vietnamese crew members.