FIRE ON CARGO STEAMER.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18518, 15 March 1930, Page 17 (Supplement)

FIRE ON CARGO STEAMER.

Valuable Produce Ablaze. MIDNIGHT SENSATION AT COLOMBO. (United Press Association—By Ilectria Telegraph—Copyright.) COLOMBO, March 13. Spontaneous combustion is believed to be the cause of a fire which broke out in the steamer Comorin in Colombo harbour at midnight. All the passengers are ashore, and the crew is safe. The Comorin was bound from Australia to England. There was no panic among the passengers when they were ordered to leave the ship. The cargo of wool, fibre, copra, and frozen meat in No. 2 and No. 3 holds was destroyed. The watertight doors were locked to prevent the fire spreading, and so far this has been successful. The fire in the holds is still raging. Tugs are standing by, and are pumping water into the fore part of the ship. Considerable damage has been done to the first-class dining saloon, which is immediately above No. 3 hold. The Australian mails have not been transhipped. The Comorin will not leave until Saturday. The passengers will not be transhipped, but will leave on the Comorin. This morning the vessel had a list to port, but she is now 30 degrees to starboard.

[The Comorin, which has a registered tonnage of 15.132, was built in 1925, and is owned by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Her principal dimensions are: Length 523.5 ft, breadth 70.2 ft, and depth 40.3ft.]