Crewman missing as ship fire poses oil pollution threat

OFFICIALS warned of a potential environmental disaster in Antarctica after fire erupted yesterday on a Japanese whaling ship, with the search continuing for a missing crewman from the crippled ship.

Japanese officials said the blaze that broke out in the below-decks area of the 8,000-ton Nisshin Maru, where whale carcasses are processed, had been brought under control.

Most of the vessel’s 148-member crew were evacuated yesterday to three other ships in the area that also belong to the Japanese whaling fleet, said Hideki Moronuki, an official with the Japan Fisheries Agency.

Hatches were closed to seal off the burning area, and some 30 crew members stayed on board to fight the fire, pumping water from the surrounding ocean.

However, one crewman — Kazutaka Makita, 27 — was still missing 21 hours after New Zealand officials received the ship’s distress signal yesterday, said Kenji Masuda, another agency official. He added it was not yet clear if Mr Makita had gone missing aboard ship or not. Search teams were waiting for smoke to clear in the burning area before attempting to assess its condition and search for Mr Makita, he said.

The accident on board the ship — which is drifting near penguin breeding grounds along the Antarctic coast — aroused concerns of a potential environmental disaster.

New Zealand conservation minister, Chris Carter, whose country is leading efforts to help the stricken ship, said it was carrying 132,000 gallons of heavy oil and 211,000 gallons of furnace oil and was starting to list from water pumped aboard to fight the fire.

No oil had spilled from the ship and it was in no immediate danger of sinking, officials said. The cause of the fire was not known.