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Tour boat burns off coast of Keelung, tourists safe
IN THE NICK OF TIME:
The ship was nearing Keelung Islet when it started to burn. It was completely consumed by the fire shortly after all the passengers had disembarked
By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006, Page 2
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Coast guard officers help passengers from the Chin Shanghai disembark from a rescue boat in Bisha Port in Keelung after the tourist vessel caught fire off the coast of Keelung yesterday.
PHOTO: LIN CHIA-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
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A tourist boat caught fire off the coast of Keelung yesterday as it was about to anchor on an islet, forcing all 47 people on board to evacuate, though no injuries were reported.
The Chin Shanghai (金上海) was traveling between Bisha Port (碧砂漁港) in Keelung to Keelung Islet (基隆嶼) when the fire broke out.
Coast guard officer Chang Beng-yuan (張本源) said that the boat departed from Bisha Port at 10am yesterday to take 43 tourists to the islet.
heavy smoke
When the Chin Shanghai reached a point about 1.9km from Keelung Islet, Chang added, coast guard officers performing routine checks of boats docking at the islet noticed heavy smoke coming from the boat.
Chang said coast guard officers asked the boat's crew to dock as soon as possible and then helped all the tourists to disembark immediately after it touched the wharf.
no injuries
Nobody was injured in the incident, he said.
He added that soon after the tourists and four crew members left the Chin Shanghai, the fire engulfed it because there was no fire-fighting equipment available on the islet. The boat burned swiftly, leaving only its skeleton.
Chang said the tourists -- members of a package tour from Hsinchu -- expressed shock at the incident. They said that they could not imagine the consequences if the boat had caught fire far from land, Chang said.
He said the tourists returned to Keelung at 1pm on another boat.
He said most of the tourist boats operating near Keelung were old fishing boats that had been refitted, causing concerns over their seaworthiness.
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