Catches Fire News

The Coast Guard and partner agencies are responding to a barge fire in the Delaware Bay.At 8:20 a.m., Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay watchstanders received a call from the tug Douglas J reporting the barge they were towing was on fire.

A fire broke out on the Panama-flagged livestock carrier North Star 1 while it was docked at the Port of São Sebastião, Brazil, on 3 March.Some of the 28 crew onboard required medical attention due to smoke inhalation, and the 2,600 cattle onboard, destined for Turkey, were disembarked.The fire was reported to have started in a provisions store containing livestock fodder.“The incident is a strong reminder of the dangers of fire at sea, and especially the risks of fire on livestock…

A fire onboard the Singapore-registered container ship Wan Hai 503 has erupted earlier on Monday off India’s Kerala coast, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) reported, injuring several crew members and leaving four unaccounted for as Indian Coast Guard and Navy launch search and rescue operations.The incident occurred on June 9, 2025 at about 12.30 hrs Singapore time, at the vessel managed by Wan Hai Lines (Singapore) Pte Ltd.There were 22 crew members onboard.

An oil tanker caught fire off the Baltic Sea coast of northern Germany early on Friday, and all seven crew members on board at the time were taken ashore, maritime rescue services said in a statement.Three vessels have been deployed to the burning tanker Annika in the Mecklenburg Bay to extinguish the blaze, with several firefighting teams also en route to the site via helicopters, according to the statement.The Germany-flagged, 73-metre-long tanker is carrying around 640 tonnes of oil, it added.

A fire that broke out Thursday aboard the cargo ship Ken off the Philippines has been extinguished, the Philippine Coast Guard said.The vessel, owned by Pherwin Shipping Corp., reportedly caught fire near Castilla Anchorage Area in Sorsogon at around 11 a.m. local time.The Coast Guard said it coordinated with the Philippine Navy and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) for joint search and rescue and firefighting operations.According to the eight crewmembers on board, the fire started in the vessel's mess hall. No injuries were reported.

A Panama-flagged tanker called White Pearl has caught fire near Assaluyeh on Iran's Gulf coast, Iranian state media reported on Thursday, adding that all crew members were safe."Twenty-two of the ship's crew have been rescued by Iranian rescue teams after the ship's captain requested assistance from the port authorities," state TV quoted a local ports official as saying. The official said that the tanker, carrying 40,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas, had experienced "a problem in the engine room due to a fire."Panama's vessel registry…

Skandi Buzios, a pipelay support vessel owned by TechnipFMC and DOF, caught fire Friday morning in a Brazilian port.The Brazilian media and some social media accounts on Friday showed images and videos of the burning vessel with thick smoke billowing above it and firefighters trying to quell the fire.The incident happened at Porto do Açu, in São João da Barra, in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, and no injuries have been reported.Offshore Engineer has reached out to TechnipFMC seeking more info. "On Friday morning, June 2, a fire occurred onboard Skandi Buzios while the vessel was alongside Porto do Açu in Brazil. All personnel are safe, and no serious injuries were sustained. The fire has been brought under control after efforts by our crew, Porto do Açu, and local authorities.

Singapore-registered passenger ferry 'QUEEN STAR 2' caught fire on Friday while en route from Singapore to Batam, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has informed.The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) was alerted that there was a fire in the ferry's engine room on Friday, 12:30 local time."MPA, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), and Police Coast Guard (PCG) immediately deployed their crafts to provide assistance. MPA also deployed a tug boat to provide assistance and tow the ferry," the MPA said."All 62 passengers, including Singaporeans, Malaysians, and Indonesians, among others, on the ferry 'QUEEN STAR 2' have been safely transferred to another vessel 'MERBAU ERA' which was on the way to Harbourfront Ferry Terminal.

Three crew members of a Gabon-registered tanker were missing after the vessel caught fire on Monday in waters off Malaysia's southern coast, Malaysian maritime authorities said.The tanker was on its way from China to Singapore with 28 crew members on board, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said, adding that 23 were rescued by the MMEA and by nearby vessels.The MMEA said it commenced search and rescue operations after receiving an alert at 1600 local time about a tanker on fire.The cause of the incident was under investigation, the maritime agency said.In a separate statement, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore identified the vessel as 'Pablo'.Pablo Union Shipping…

A shelter in place order has been lifted as a large fishing vessel fire begins to die down in Tacoma, Wash.Fire broke out on board the factory trawler Kodiak Enterprise early Saturday morning, progressing throughout the ship while moored at Trident Seafoods in the Hylebos Waterway, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.The City of Tacoma Fire Department is issuing a temporary shelter in place order for Northeast Tacoma, Browns Point and Dash Point neighborhoods as flames inched closer toward the vessel’s freon tanks, which could see pressure build from the fire's heat.

More than 100 passengers, the vast majority of them school children, were rescued from a passenger vessel that caught fire on Tuesday in Norfolk, Va.The fire aboard the Spirit of Norfolk was reported around noon, while the vessel was on a cruise in the Elizabeth River, near Naval Station Norfolk. Images and videos shared on social media show flames and heavy smoke rising from the 169-foot-long vessel. The cause of the fire is under investigation, though officials believe it started in the vessel's engine room.

U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday it had responded to a boat fire near Carlsbad, California in an incident in which the 50-foot boat eventually sank.Coast Guard Sector San  Diego watchstanders received several reports of a boat, on fire approximately seven miles off the Carlsbad coast around 9 a.m. local time.Coast Guard watchstanders dispatched an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and diverted the Coast Guard Cutters Munro, Benjamin Bottoms, and the  Haddock."While Coast Guard assets were en route, the Oceanside Harbor Master confirmed that the boat's name was the Relentless.

A fire broke out on board a refrigerated cargo ship at the Port of Wilmington, in Delaware, late Monday evening.The crew aboard the Dole containerized fruit carrier contacted U.S. Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay at approximately midnight, reporting that an engine fire erupted shortly after leaving port.The vessel quickly activated its firefighting system, energizing a carbon dioxide system to flood the engine room and rob the fire of oxygen, and safely moored back to the pier.

Iran's largest navy ship the Kharg sank on Wednesday after catching fire in the Gulf of Oman, but the crew was safely rescued, Iranian media reported.No further explanation was given for the latest incident in a region of sensitive waterways, where there have been accusations of attacks on ships owned by arch-enemies Iran and Israel.State TV said the fire on Iran's highest-tonnage naval vessel started around 2:25 a.m.on Wednesday (21:55 GMT) near the Iranian port of Jask, where…

The containership “X-PRESS PEARL” last week caught fire at anchorage about 10 nautical miles off the Colombo Harbour, Sri Lanka, and the images shared Tuesday show the situation has worsened.Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on Friday dispatched a Bell-212 helicopter that dropped 425kg of dry chemical powder on the ship. The situation has deteriorated since Friday, according to SLAF photos released on Tuesday, which showed the vessel engulfed in flames and thick black smoke.According to a statement by the vessel owner X-Press Feeders…

MSC Cruises said a fire broke out aboard one of its vessels idled in Greece, on Thursday.The fire was reported at 3:42 p.m. local time aboard the MSC Lirica, currently in warm layup without passengers on the Greek island Corfu, and was put out by the ship’s two fire brigades and local emergency services teams by 6:58 p.m. No injuries were reported among the 51 crew members on board at the time of the incident, the cruise line said.MSC Cruises said the blaze originated from a starboard-side fiberglass lifeboat on the ship's sixth deck…

A hybrid-electric tour vessel caught fire off Norway's southern coast on Thursday, and while the flames have been extinguished, local authorities fear the situation could deteriorate in the days ahead.Authorities said the fire broke out in or near starboard battery compartment and engine room aboard the 24-meter catamaran MS Brim, operated by Brim Explorer, on Thursday afternoon, while the vessel was west of the island Nordre Søster off Fredrikstad in Østfold. There were no passengers on board…

A fully loaded oil tanker has caught fire off the east coast of Sri Lanka, which has dispatched an aircraft and two navy ships to help in the rescue, a Sri Lankan navy spokesman said on Thursday.The New Diamond, a very large crude carrier (VLCC) chartered by Indian Oil Corp (IOC), was heading to the port of Paradip in India, where the state-run firm operates a 300,000 barrel-per-day refinery.The ship had sailed from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait, carrying Kuwait Export Crude, Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking data showed.The Sri Lankan spokesman, Commander Ranjith Rajapaksa, said the VLCC was ablaze about 20 nautical miles off the east coast.

Twelve crew members were rescued Wednesday from a cargo ship ablaze off the coast of Italy.At about 7 a.m. local time, the Reggio Calabria port authority received a mayday call reporting an uncontrollable fire in the engine room aboard Bolivian-flagged freighter Bellatrix, in the Mediterranean Sea, about 180 miles southeast from Catania, Italy's Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard assumed coordination of the rescue effort and arranged for multiple air and surface assets to be sent to the scene.

A section of the lower Mississippi River has been closed to vessel traffic after a tug caught fire near mile marker 673 on Wednesday. All crew is reported safe, and there have been no reports of pollution.The U.S. Coast Guard said it is responding to a fire on board the uninspected towing vessel Jacob Kyle Rusthoven near West Helena, Ark. after being notified of the incident at 10:30 a.m.The stricken vessel has been pushed to the Arkansas bank of the river where firefighting efforts continue.

Indonesian rescuers searched on Friday for 30 people missing from the blazing wreckage of a ferry off the coast of Java island.The KM Santika Nusantara was traveling between the country's second-largest city of Surabaya and the town of Balikpapan on Borneo island with 277 people on board, when it caught fire on Thursday evening, government official Syahrul Nugroho told TV channel TV One."About 245 people have been evacuated using small boats, while 30 passengers are still missing," he said.Officials have given no details on the cause of the fire.

A fire broke out in the engine room of a lake freighter on the Detroit River on Sunday afternoon, the US Coast Guard reported.A contracted firefighting team boarded the 641-foot Canadian bulk carrier Tecumseh and extinguished the fire overnight after all 16 crewmembers were safely disembarked and evaluated by local emergency medical services, the Coast Guard said.Vessel traffic has not been impacted and no pollution has been reported in the area.The 1970s-built vessel, which had been on the US side of the Detroit River near Zug Island at the southern city limits of Detroit when the fire occurred, is currently anchored by Windsor, Ontario…

U.S. flagged containership Maersk Kensington reported a fire in a cargo hold while en route from Salalah, Oman toward Suez. The fire is the second reported aboard a Maersk vessel this month. The fire has been contained and all 26 crew members are reported safe and accounted for, according to A.P. Moller-Maersk. The vessel is carrying 3,518 containers (corresponding to 5,616 TEU) and is currently at anchor outside the port of Salalah where it is receiving assistance from shore. The 6,188 TEU Maersk Kensington is owned and operated by Maersk’s U.S. subsidiary Maersk Line, Limited (MLL).