Graphic pictures of Japanese hunters harpooning whales and dragging their carcasses aboard a ship near Antarctica were evidence of “indiscriminate” slaughter, Australia said today.

Officials warned of a potential environmental disaster in Antarctica after a fire erupted on a Japanese whaling ship, leaving it drifting near penguin breeding grounds on the frozen continent’s coast.

A fleet of six Japanese whalers left port today for their annual hunt in the Antarctic, where they hope to kill 860 whales for a controversial research programme.