Firemen board ship to plug diesel leak

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Workers cleaning the beach yesterday in Labuan following the oil spill from the Malaysia International Shipping Corporation’s (MISC) Bunga Alpina vessel, which exploded into flames last week at the Ranca-Ranca industrial area.

LABUAN: Firemen yesterday boarded the vessel, Bunga Alpinia 3 which caught fire after it was hit by lightning and explosions on Thursday.

Labuan Fire and Rescue Department director Zainal Madasin said 12 firemen boarded the badly damaged vessel at 11.30am Sunday.

Their immediate task was to spray foam to extinguish any small fires while trying to reach the ship’s diesel tank to plug any leakage of the fuel into the sea.

“We are proceeding slowly because the situation is still quite hazardous,” Madasin said.

He said the firemen were also searching for missing crewman Mohd Nazrin Khamsani, 20, of Kuala Lumpur.

Zainal said sea water was sprayed on the vessel all Saturday until it was declared to be cool enough to be boarded.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Sabah chief First Admiral M. Karunanithi said a small oil spill was detected in the vicinity of the vessel.

He said the problem was being tackled by the Department of Environment and Marine Department.

The tanker had been loading about six tonnes of methanol at the Petronas Methanol Labuan jetty at Pulau Enoe on Thursday when a small fire broke out during a thunderstorm.

The fire turned into a raging inferno sparking off at least three major explosions that could be felt throughout the island. Nineteen crewmen, including the skipper, managed to escape.

The bodies of four missing crewmen have been recovered since then in the sea just metres away from the scene of the tragedy.