Fire on cargo ship docked in Chinese port kills 20 and some people are missing, state media say

Beijing — At least 20 people were killed and five were missing after a cargo ship caught fire while docked in a Chinese port, Chinese state media reported Thursday.

The ship was docked for repairs by the Beihai Shipbuilding Co. at the port of Qingdao, a major shipping hub on the northeastern Chinese coast.

A photo released by Xinhua news agency identified the ship as the Ocean Melody, which sails under a Liberian flag, according to the tracking website VesselFinder.

A total of 42 people had been on the vessel, and 12 of them were safely evacuated, Xinhua reported. Five were injured and taken to a hospital and remained in stable condition.

The fire started around 11 a.m. Thursday and was extinguished by 2:30 p.m. local time.

China’s President Xi Jinping issued “important instructions” to urgently conduct rescues of missing people from the ship, Xinhua said, adding that Premier Li Qiang called for “trapped” people to be rescued.

There was no word on what caused the blaze.  

Xi also “stressed the need to … strictly hold those responsible to account,” Xinhua reported, according to French news agency AFP.

A witness from a neighboring residential compound told AFP he saw thick smoke coming from the ship but didn’t hear an explosion or see flames.