At least 10 people were killed and 18 injured after an oil tanker caught fire early on Wednesday while undergoing repairs in Indonesia's Riau province, local police said, quoted by “Reuters“, reports News.bg.
The incident occurred at around 4:00 a.m. local time when a fire broke out on the MT Federal II ship, anchored for repairs at a shipyard in the city of Batam - a port hub located about 20 km by sea from Singapore.
The ship was in a repair dock and was not carrying oil at the time of the incident, said local police chief Zaenal Arifin.
“As of Wednesday afternoon, 10 people had died and 18 others were hospitalized. All of the injured were working on the vessel's repairs. Some of them were seriously injured,“,
Arifin said.
He added that the owner of the vessel was still unclear.
The incident comes just months after a similar fire in Batam. In June, a vessel caught fire during repairs, killing four people and injuring nine. Police then charged two people with violating safety standards.