Japan whaling ship catches fire

Japanese whaling ship has caught fire near
Antarctica, leaving one crew member missing and raising fears of
environmental damage.

The blaze on board the Nisshin Maru prompted the evacuation of its crew onto other ships.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, but New Zealand authorities said it had nothing to do with whaling protestors.

The whaling fleet has been pursued by activists, protesting at plans to hunt 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales.

In recent days, protesters from the Sea Shepherd
environmental group have clashed with the whalers, and thrown acid and
other objects on the ships to try to stop them from carrying out their
hunt.

Mechanical fault

The alarm was sounded on board the Nisshin Maru - an 8,000 tonne processing ship - just before daybreak.  About 120 members of its crew were evacuated to
three other ships in the whaling fleet, while 40 sailors stayed on
board to fight the fire in the ship's engine room.

One crew member is reported missing, but it is not clear
whether he was caught up in the flames or went overboard into the icy
waters of the Ross Sea.

New Zealand Conservation Minister Chris Carter said that
while the safety of the whaling ship's crew was the top priority, "we
are also gravely concerned about the environmental risk to Antarctica's
pristine environment, if the ship is sufficiently damaged to begin
leaking oil".

New Zealand maritime authorities - whose country is
responsible for search and rescue operations in the area - have ruled
out any possibility that anti-whaling protestors had something to do
with the fire.

Instead they think the blaze was caused by a mechanical fault.

Earlier this week, Japanese fisheries officials
described members of the Sea Shepherd group as terrorists, after one of
their vessels collided with a whaling boat in the southern ocean.

After that incident activists threatened to ram the Nisshin Maru to prevent whales being hauled on board for processing.

But the activists' ships were at least two or three days' sailing distance away from the whalers when the fire occurred.

"We haven't had contact with the vessel for about three
days now and have been heading back to port because we are short of
fuel," Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson told Australian TV.