A crew of 25 seafarers has been evacuated from a container ship hit by a serious fire off Saudi Arabia.
The blaze broke out on the 2,007-teu large feeder vessel TSS Pearl (built 2008) on Thursday, 123 nautical miles (228 km) north-west of the Red Sea port of Jizan.
A photo published by the country’s state Saudi Press Agency (SPA) shows orange flames erupting from the back of the Panama-flag ship, and a plume of black smoke rising into the sky.
The stern and superstructure area looks blackened and buckled, with boxes appearing destroyed.
The vessel had left Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on 4 October and was due to call in Aden in Yemen on Friday.
The last AIS update comes from 5 October and the ship is now shown as not under command.
Saudi Arabia’s Border Guards were alerted to the situation and sent a ship out to take the crew off.
The vessel is operated by Tehama Shipping of Dubai, which took over management in January 2021, according to the Equasis database.
The company could not be contacted on Friday morning.
Crew members received medical treatment
Border Guards spokesman Colonel Misfir Al-Qarini said that the Jeddah Search and Rescue Coordination Center (JMRCC) reported the crew consists of seafarers of various nationalities.
They have been taken to Jizan and received medical treatment.
The TSS Pearl is a former MPC Capital and Navios Management vessel.
The feeder unit has no port state control detentions on its record.
Equasis lists the insurer as American Steamship, which began coverage in February.
Container ship fires appear to have decreased in number this year, but incidents like this and the 8,586-teu Zim Charleston (built 2011) in the Indian Ocean earlier this year indicate the problem is not going away.
The increasing number of ultra-large container vessels has added to the potential scale of the problem.
