One killed in Pertamina tanker fire incident

By Bambang Atmaja

An oil tanker owned by state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina was caught on fire Tuesday in the waters of Kotabaru, off South Kalimantan, killing one technician, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency.

The ship with a capacity of 60,000 tons was burned at northern waters of Kotabaru in Kulo Sebuku sub-district of Kotabaru Regency at 00 : 00 a.m. local time Tuesday and the fire could be extinguished at 21 : 00 p.m. local time, said Sutopo to Petromindo.com.

Poor communication network and huge waves had hampered efforts to stop the fire and rescue operation, he said. The other 21 crews of the vessel were managed to be evacuated safely.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak