Latvia, Port, Transport

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 19:56

Tanker that caught fire towed to Riga port

BC, Riga, 26.05.2017.Print version
The Zircone, the tanker on which a fire broke out yesterday as it was sailing along Latvia's western coast, was towed to the Riga port this morning, and the Latvian Transport Accident and Incident Investigation Bureau has started investigating the incident.

Inspectors of the Latvian Maritime Administration also visited the tanker this morning and took a look at the engine room where the fire had started.


The Maritime Administration is prepared to cooperate with the Transport Accident and Incident Investigation Bureau in investigation of the fire aboard the Zircon, if the investigation bureau made a request for cooperation, said Sarma Kocane, a spokeswoman for the Maritime Administration.


The vessel will need major repairs but due to the actions by the crew there was no oil spill and no people were harmed in the fire, she said.


Ivars Alfreds Gaveika, Director of the Transport Accident and Incident Investigation Bureau, said the tanker had been towed to the Riga port this morning and the investigators were now doing their work aboard the ship. For now there are no theories about the cause of fire because evidence has to be gathered at the scene first. There might be more clarity about what caused the fire at the beginning of next week, he said.


As reported, a fire broke out on the Zircone tanker in the Gulf of Riga yesterday around 11 a.m. The tanker with over 7,000 tons of diesel fuel on board had departed the Riga port for Denmark and was near Latvia's western coast when a fire started in its engine room. The Latvian coast guard vessel and an Air Force helicopter as well as a tugboat with firefighters from the Riga port rushed to the scene but the fire was contained and there was not need to evacuate the crew of 17 people.


The Zircone was built in 1993. It sails under the Latvian flag, and its home port is Riga.Tallinn-based NT Bunkering AS, part of the Russian group NT Bunkering, has acquired a small chemical tanker vessel named Zircone (dwt 8000 t) from Italian shipping firm Finbeta for some $4m in 2016.






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