Three Sought For Arrest In Tanker Explosion

Romania issued arrest warrants for three men facing charges in connection with the deaths of 10 welders in a Black Sea port oil tanker explosion. They are accused of forging papers that allowed repair work to begin on a vessel which officials believe was a death trap because it had not been properly flushed of fuel fumes. The general prosecutor in the port town of Constanta, Traian Poenaru, said the man who signed a certificate declaring the Maltese ship Anopolis gas free, and two others in charge of repairs on the vessel, were wanted for causing death by negligence. Privatization Minister Ovidiu Musetescu said the ship had been impounded while investigations continued. "The tanker was a dangerous floating bomb," Musetescu told Romanian television. "Workers' statements show they were put under pressure to start repair work in unsafe conditions." - (Reuters)