Search and rescue operations are underway for the crew of two tankers that caught fire in the South China Sea offshore Singapore.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said that a fire broke out on both a Singapore-flagged tanker Hafnia Nile and a São Tomé and Príncipe-flagged tanker Ceres I about 55 km northeast of Pedra Branca within Singapore’s Maritime Search and Rescue Region. The port authority was informed of the fires at 6:15 am local time on Friday.
MPA has requested passing vessels to assist in the search and rescue of the crew. A Singapore Navy frigate, RSS Supreme which is in the vicinity of the incident assisted with the operations. The Navy was able to rescue 16 crew members from the Hafnia Nile while another six in a liferaft were picked up by a Malaysian government vessel and transferred to the frigate. All 22 crew members from the tanker are en route to Singapore.
A Singapore-flagged supply vessel Dolphin 1 picked up 14 of the 40 crew members from the Ceres I, two of which were evacuated via a Singapore Air Force helicopter and are currently receiving medical attention at Singapore General Hospital. The remaining 26 crew members are currently conducting firefighting operations onboard.
Salvage and firefighting assets have been arranged by both vessel owners as well as subsequent towage of the vessels to safety. Navigational traffic is not affected.
The Hafnia Nile was carrying around 300,000 barrels of naphtha, according to data from Kpler and LSEG, while it is still unknown what kind of cargo was in the Ceres I, a vessel previously linked to the transport of Iranian crude. Available AIS data implies that the former hit the starboard bow of the latter at a speed of 14.2 knots.
Hafnia Nile is a 2017-built, 74,189 dwt LR1 tanker owned and operated by Hafnia Limited. The Ceres I is owned by Ceres Shipping and managed by Shanghai Property Shipmanagement. It is a 2001-built VLCC and has a 300,000 dwt.
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