Chinese ambassador visits Chinese survivors in Montevideo ship fire

Chinese ambassador to Uruguay Wang Yongzhan on Thursday visited and expressed sympathy to the six Chinese sailors who survived in the fire that broke out on Ukrainian ship Simeiz a day earlier.

Since the accident occurred, the Chinese embassy has been in close contact with the Uruguayan side and the ship's agent, extending its full support for the ensuing rescue operations, said Wang. He added that the embassy will do its best in its continued dealing with the aftermath.

The six Chinese sailors, now housed in a hotel in the center of Montevideo, are in good conditions.

Eleven people, including a Ukrainian skipper, nine Chinese sailors and an Indonesian, were killed in the fire that swallowed the fishing boat in Montevideo harbor early Wednesday.

Simeiz, under a Ukrainian flag but owned by a Spanish company, was docked in Montevideo's piers when it caught fire. It was then towed away to prevent the fire from affecting other ships.

It took local firefighters and the navy 25 hours to extinguish the fire as the 160,000 litters of fuel in the vessel made the task very difficult.

Source: Xinhua