One injured after fire ignites on tanker off southern Vietnam

One person suffered injuries after a fire broke out on a commercial tanker in the South China Sea off the coast of southern Vietnam on Friday, August 8.

The Vietnamese-flagged tanker GT Unity was transporting more than 3,800 tons of crude from Malaysia to Quang Ngai province when an electrical short ignited a blaze in the engine room at around 11:50 local time on Friday.

Vietnamese maritime authorities learned of the incident shortly afterwards and instructed the crew of the Liberian-registered container vessel Androusa, which happened to be nearby, to divert to the area to render assistance pending the arrival of dedicated emergency response assets.

Androusa's crew were able to successfully rescue all 20 of GT Unity's sailors. This number includes 16 individuals who had already abandoned ship by the time the container vessel arrived on-scene.

The rescued sailors, one of whom is in critical condition, were eventually transferred to a Vietnamese patrol boat and brought to shore. The critically injured crewmember was later brought to hospital.