site.btaRussian Tanker Catches on Fire in Varna Ship Yard, No One Injured

Russian Tanker Catches on Fire in Varna Ship Yard, No One Injured

Varna, on the Black Sea, April 3 (BTA) - A tanker sailing under a Russian flag has caught on fire in a ship repair yard here at 10:25 am Monday morning. The causes of the incident are still to be determined. The fire poses no environmental risk and no one was injured, said the Executive Director of the Terem EAD ship repair company, Georgi Stoykov.

Varna Regional Governor Todor Yotov explained later that the explosion occurred at one of the ship's ballast tanks. Two specialized fire fighting trucks have extinguished the fire in half an hour. The ship has a hole on its starboard side, Yotov said. The firefighters are currently cooling off the vessel in order to prevent secondary fires from erupting. A motorboat has joined the fire fighting effort.