Vic: Fire on whaling ship controlled

AAP General News (Australia)
02-16-2007
Vic: Fire on whaling ship controlled

MELBOURNE, Feb 16 AAP - A fire on board Japanese whaling ship Nishin Maru is under
control but New Zealand authorities continue to hold concerns about the potential for
a large fuel spill.

A crewman, Kazutaka Makita, 27, of Kagoshima, remains missing.

Maritime New Zealand spokesman Steve Corbett said the crew of 8,000-tonne factory ship
had reported that the area where the fire was had cooled.

"It's under control but we're not quite sure whether it's been fully extinguished yet,"

Mr Corbett said.

"(The crew) have reported the area is cooling.

"They managed to look at the area yesterday but the smoke and heat was too intense."

Mr Corbett said the crew of 31 on board sealed the area of the fire yesterday and had
managed to pump excess water from the fire fight from the deck.

The remainder of the 161 crew have been taken aboard four other whaling vessels, which
came to their aid.

The cause of the fire is unknown.

There also is no sign of the missing crewman but Mr Corbett said the authority did
not believe he had gone overboard.

"The information from the ship is they feel he's either been caught up in the fire
or in the space where the fire is," he said.

Mr Corbett said the maritime authority was concerned the ship was ladened with fuel,
which could start leaking into Antarctica's Ross Sea and create an environmental disaster.

But the ship had reported no oil had been leaked.

"The threat remains which we're concerned about, but these fears are not close to being
realised at the moment," he said.

"We're continuing to monitor the situation."

The Nisshin Maru is the mother ship of a Japanese fleet hunting whales in the Southern Ocean.

It was about 260 nautical miles north of New Zealand's Scott Base in Antarctica when
it sent out a distress call following an explosion and subsequent fire about 3.15am (AEDT)
yesterday.

AAP mi/dk/imc/bwl

KEYWORD: WHALING FIRE THIRD DAYLEAD

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