A fire broke out aboard the cargo ship Ocean Melody at the Chinese port of Qingdao while the vessel was undergoing repairs. The incident killed 25 people, the Associated Press reported, citing Chinese state media, according to infohub.kz.
The ship was being repaired at a Beihai Shipbuilding Co. facility at the port of Qingdao in eastern China. According to AP, the Ocean Melody flies the flag of Liberia.
A total of 42 people were on board. Twelve were evacuated, and five others were injured and taken to hospital. Their condition is described as stable.
The fire started at around 11:00 a.m. local time and was extinguished at about 2:30 p.m. Footage circulating online shows workers trying to fight the flames themselves before emergency services arrived.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered that search-and-rescue operations be organized urgently and that measures be taken to prevent major accidents. Premier Li Qiang also instructed that people who might still be trapped on the ship be rescued.
Beihai Shipbuilding is part of the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation, the world's largest shipbuilding group. The company builds and repairs vessels.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that in Jiangxi province in southeastern China, a landslide triggered by torrential rain from Typhoon Saola killed one person, while 11 others were listed as missing. The disaster damaged 12 homes.
The storm also hit Fujian province, where about 600,000 people were evacuated from dangerous areas, and more than 100 homes were destroyed after a dam burst and flooding.