Typhoon Rai marooned ship catches fire in central Philippines
2023.04.28 21:15Fire broke out on Friday in a ship that ran aground in the central Philippines at the height of a typhoon two years ago, the coastguard said.The MV Diamond Highway has been marooned on the shorelines of Punta Engano village in Lapu-Lapu City, more than 570 kilometres south of Manila, since December 2021.Workers were cutting metal scraps from the ship as part of salvage operations, when the fire started, the coastguard said.“The fire started from the starboard bow while [workers were] cutting the vessel’s scrap metals,” the coastguard said, quoting the ship’s operations manager.All personnel working on the scrap operations were safely evacuated from the Diamond Highway.Philippines confronts Chinese coastguard over sea claims in tense face-offThe coastguard said one of its tugboats has responded to the fire, which began around 2.20pm.The Diamond Highway was one of over 100 vessels that sank or ran aground during the onslaught of Typhoon Rai in December 2021 in the central
Fire broke out on Friday in a ship that ran aground in the central Philippines at the height of a typhoon two years ago, the coastguard said.
The MV Diamond Highway has been marooned on the shorelines of Punta Engano village in Lapu-Lapu City, more than 570 kilometres south of Manila, since December 2021.
Workers were cutting metal scraps from the ship as part of salvage operations, when the fire started, the coastguard said.
“The fire started from the starboard bow while [workers were] cutting the vessel’s scrap metals,” the coastguard said, quoting the ship’s operations manager.
All personnel working on the scrap operations were safely evacuated from the Diamond Highway.
Philippines confronts Chinese coastguard over sea claims in tense face-off
The coastguard said one of its tugboats has responded to the fire, which began around 2.20pm.
The Diamond Highway was one of over 100 vessels that sank or ran aground during the onslaught of Typhoon Rai in December 2021 in the central Philippines. More than 400 people were killed in the typhoon.
Sea travel is a major mode of transport in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.
The country was the site of the world’s worst peacetime shipping disaster in 1987, when more than 4,000 people died in a collision between a passenger ferry and an oil tanker just before Christmas.
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