Local time on January 8, a container ship "Stride" docked in the U.S. port of Houston caught fire, resulting in the death of two crew members, a crew member burned, in critical condition.
The Port of Houston confirmed the accident in a statement, saying that in the early morning hours of the same day, the local fire department responded to a report of a fire on board the Stride, which was docked at the Barbours Cut Container Terminal. The accident resulted in the deaths of two crew members and the injury of another, who was taken to the hospital by medical helicopter.
The Stride, a 2,174 TEU Panama-flagged vessel built in 1997, is owned and managed by Danaos Shipping, a Greek shipowner. At the time of the incident, the Stride was arriving at the Port of Houston from the port of Barrios.
On the morning of January 8, at approximately 03:30 local time, a fuel barge was alongside the vessel when the fire broke out.
The Fire Department reported that they were told that three crew members were missing and that the fire was in the cabin. They searched the vessel, located the crew, and arranged for one crew member in critical condition with burns to be airlifted for medical attention. The other two crew members were dead when they were recovered and no other injuries were reported.
Images posted on social media by a local television station show that the fire has now been extinguished and that a large area of the rear of the ship's superstructure has been blackened by smoke.
The U.S. Coast Guard and the Port of Houston said they would monitor the Stride for at least the next 24 hours. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it is working with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to investigate the incident.
