Twenty-five dead after fire on cargo ship in eastern China

10 September 2026, 10: 45 BST. Updated 8 hours ago.

Key points

• The vessel was undergoing maintenance at a shipyard in the city of Qingdao when the blaze erupted at around 11: 15 local time (03: 15 GMT).
• The fire comes almost a month after a shipyard explosion in the south-eastern Chinese province of Fujian killed a rescue worker and injured 12 others.
• Of the 42 individuals on board, 17 were were evacuated of which five are in hospital in stable condition, CCTV reports.
• The country's leader Xi Jinping earlier pressed "all-out" search and rescue efforts while Premier Li Qiang stressed the need to "prevent secondary disasters".
• Twenty-five individuals have been killed in a fire on a foreign-flagged cargo ship docked at a port in eastern China, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Meanwhile, the vessel was undergoing maintenance at a shipyard in the city of Qingdao when the blaze erupted at around 11: 15 local time (03: 15 GMT). It was put out just over three hours afterwards, according to CCTV.

Photos published by state media demonstrated the vessel to be the Ocean Melody, a 190m (623ft) long Liberia-flagged carrier which arrived in Qingdao on 31 August, according to tracking site MarineTraffic.

Qingdao is a major trading hub and ranks among the world's busiest ports.

It is unclear what caused the fire. An eyewitness informed the AFP news agency there was thick smoke rising from the ship, but he heard no explosion.

Notably, the country's leader Xi Jinping earlier pressed "all-out" search and rescue efforts while Premier Li Qiang stressed the need to "prevent secondary disasters".

For context, the fire comes almost a month after a shipyard explosion in the south-eastern Chinese province of Fujian killed a rescue worker and injured 12 others.

Taken together, the developments around twenty-five dead after fire on cargo ship in eastern China point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.