How Hong Kong firefighters battled fireballs sparked by charcoal-filled containers in port
- Unusual situation sparked by cargo offloaded at Tuen Mun terminal, involving 11,000 bags of fine charcoal powder
- Containers caught fire at different times, requiring crews to empty all units
While Hong Kong residents went about their daily business, a team of firefighters last month were toiling to contain a stubborn and unusual blaze at a container port, which could have had deadly consequences.
The operation took 11 days and drained valiant rescue personnel to the point that some were too tired to even walk, according to senior firefighter Lam Ho-man. What made the work harrowing was charcoal-filled containers that had caught fire, with a risk of explosion if the combustible fine powder was disturbed by water jets.
“I can tell you that everyone was worn out. When I tried to pass bottles of water to my colleagues, they asked me to just throw the bottles to them as they couldn’t even walk over,” Lam recalled.
It all began on February 20 when a Liberia-registered cargo vessel from Vietnam carrying 18 containers arrived at the River Trade Terminal in Tuen Mun for inspection. Three containers among the batch had caught fire while the vessel was at sea, but this was put out by crew members.
In total, the 18 containers were carrying 11,000 bags of fine charcoal powder.