This photo of the MV Kamala shows the fire in the cargo area amidships.
A Liberia-flagged containership is on fire in the East China Sea off the Japanese island of Kuchinoshima.
Japanese media reports say that the containership MV Kamala caught fire early Saturday morning approximately 400 kilometers west of Kuchinoshima, one of the Tokara Islands in Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture.
The Japanese Coast Guard was notified of the incident at approximately 5:30 a.m. Saturday and dispatched assets to assist, reports say. Photos from the scene on Sunday (below) shows firefighting is underway.
No injuries have been reported among the 23 crew members. At this point it is unclear if the crew remains with the vessel or if they have been evacuated.
The vessel was sailing from Gresik, Indonesia to Ulsan, South Korea when the fire occurred, according to AIS data.
Location of MV Kamala on Sunday from MarineTraffic:
Below is a South Korean news report with some footage from the scene:
Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update
Essential maritime and offshore news, insights, and updates delivered daily straight to your inbox
A container ship fire now occurs somewhere in the world roughly every 17 days, highlighting the persistent danger posed by misdeclared and undeclared dangerous cargoes, according to new data cited...
NEW DELHI, May 26 (Reuters) – The foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. agreed to jointly build a port in Fiji and signed pacts covering critical minerals and energy security,...
The waters around Japan are writing the future of the Indo-Pacific, and China doesn't like what they're saying.
Subscribe to gCaptain Daily and stay informed with the latest global maritime and offshore news
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
Sign Up
Join The Club
