SEARCHERS are looking today for a mariner missing since an explosion on a box ship killed another seafarer in the North Atlantic.

The 6,732teu MSC Flaminia was travelling to Belgium from Charleston in South Carolina on 14 July when a blast ripped through the cargo hold about 1,000nm from land, the UK¡¯s Maritime & Coastguard Agency said.

The explosion caused a fire, and all but one of the 25 crewmen took abandoned ship in lifeboats. The remaining seafarer is missing presumed dead.

Four of the rescued crew sustained burn-related injuries, one later died, the BBC reported today. These four mariners are from Germany, Poland and the Philippines.

Two firefighting tugs on the way to MSC Flaminia are expected to arrive tomorrow night, an statement from ship manager NSB said.

Information on the condition of the vessel remains scarce. First assessment can only be made upon arrival of the tugs, it added.

Charterer MSC has not yet released any official statement regarding the casualty.

Falmouth MRCC received a distress signal from the stricken vessel at 1007 local time and relayed the alert to passing ships.

Tanker DS Crown, the first vessel to arrive, picked up the surviving seafarers. They were later transferred to another box ship, MSC Stella, which is taking the survivors to the Azores archipelago.

There were winds of force 3-4 and a 1m swell at the time of the explosion, the MCA said.

The 75,590dwt Flaminia is owned by NSB Niederelbe Schiffahrtsges and operated by MSC.
Links from IHS Fairplay World Shipping Directory online:
NSB Niederelbe Schiffahrtsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co SA
Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA)