qingdao. On Thursday, 20 people died and 5 are missing after a sudden fire broke out in a foreign cargo ship waiting for repair in China’s Chengdu city. A total of 42 people were present on the ship at the time of the fire.
According to Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu and China’s state news agency Xinhua, the fire broke out on the ship at around 11:15 in the day. A total of 42 people were on board the ship at the time of the accident.
According to the local fire and rescue department, relief and rescue teams evacuated 12 people safely. Meanwhile, five injured people were taken to the hospital for treatment, where their condition is stable.
According to media reports, the fire was brought under control at around 2:30 pm. Even after this, a large-scale search and rescue operation continued to find people trapped inside the ship. By around 5:30 pm, 20 of the 25 people initially reported missing had been located.
Immediately after the accident, teams of emergency management, fire and rescue, police and medical departments were sent to the spot. Authorities have intensified operations to search for the missing people and necessary resources have been mobilized to the spot. China’s Ministry of Emergency Management has also sent a special team to the scene.
Expressing concern over the accident, Chinese President Xi Jinping directed to intensify search and rescue operations for the missing people. He asked the officials to conduct relief and assistance operations effectively and immediately investigate the cause of the accident.
Xi also stressed taking action as per law against those responsible for the accident. He called upon the concerned departments to draw serious lessons from this incident and thoroughly investigate and eliminate potential fire hazards.
At present the exact cause of the fire has not been known. Officials have started investigating the incident.