Japanese whaling ship on fire, one missing: NZ
Source: Reuters
CANBERRA, Feb 15 (Reuters) - A Japanese whaling ship is on fire and one crew member is missing off the coast of Antarctica after a blaze broke out below decks, New Zealand maritime authorities said on Thursday. The fire broke out around 1600 GMT (5 a.m. New Zealand time) on the black-hulled Nisshin Maru, the 8,000 tonne flagship and factory vessel of the Japan whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean. "Three other whaling ships have come to their assistance and taken 142 crew off, while 20 remain on the ship fighting the fire and one is unaccounted for at this stage," Maritime New Zealand spokesman Steve Corbett told Reuters. Corbett said the cause of the fire was unknown, as sea conditions in the area had been calm with no wind. The blaze, he said, had nothing to do with environmental activists who had been harassing the fleet for the past two days, at one stage colliding with another Japanese vessel. "It had nothing to do with them, because they are still three days away," Corbett said. No assistance had been requested or sent to the area -- 265 nautical miles north of the American McMurdo Base in Antarctica -- by New Zealand's government. "The master advises he has the situation under control," Corbett said.
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