AN explosion aboard a ship entering the Bay of Gibraltar has injured four crew members, two who are badly burnt.

The incident aboard the coal-carrying CSSC Cape Town occurred on Friday at 9.10pm and has now been investigated by the authorities.

After its anchoring equipment was damaged it was unable to stop and has sailed east of Gibraltar.

Two of the crew members suffered burns of 40% and 20% of their bodies from the explosion.

They were first evacuated for urgent treatment to St Bernard’s Hospital before being taken to the Seville burns unit.

The Port of Algeciras had offered to airlift the victims but the petition was turned down.

Royal Gibraltar Police detectives were on board to try to find out what happened, although they are not treating the explosion as foul play.

The CSSC Cape Town is still in contact with the Gibraltar port officials as it hopes to welcome technicians aboard to fix its anchoring equipment.

Replacement crew members will now be transported to the boat as it continues its journey.

The Hong Kong flagged ship is carrying over 112,000 metric tonnes of coal it loaded at Curtis Bay Coal Terminal in the United States.

Coal is not considered to be a dangerous cargo by the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (also known as the FAL Convention).

CSSC Cape Town has 19 crew members and is headed for Port Said in Egypt.

Subscribe to the Olive Press

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.