Fears for Antarctic after whaling-ship blaze

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.

New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter, whose country was 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.

“It is a serious situation … a ship badly damaged and full of toxic oil,” Carter told National Radio.

No oil had spilled from the ship and it was in no immediate danger of sinking, officials said.

Japanese officials said the blaze had been brought under control.

Most of the 148-member crew of the 8,000-ton Nisshin Maru were evacuated today to three other ships from the Japanese whaling fleet in the area, said Hideki Moronuki, an official with the Japan Fisheries Agency.

One crewman, named by Moronuki as 27-year-old Kazutaka Makita, was still missing almost 12 hours after New Zealand officials received the ship’s distress signal at 5.15am today (4.15pm Irish time yesterday).