April 10, 2006
TOKYO - Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL, President: Akimitsu Ashida) reported that a fire in the engine room of the MOL-operated containership MOL Initiative has been completely extinguished.
The fire on the MOL Initiative occurred off Nemuro, Hokkaido, early in the morning on Monday, April 3 (JST). The vessel was evacuated when smoke reached the crew quarters on Tuesday, April 4 (JST). After that, a rescue vessel towed the ship to an area off Hakodate, where full-scale firefighting efforts began on the evening on Friday, April 7 (JST). The fire was completely extinguished at 13:23 on Sunday, April 9 (JST).
There were no injuries among the crew and oil leakage.
The company is taking the importance of the incident seriously and is conducting a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire.