A fire broke out in a motorboat carrying oil drums at Thalawady jetty in Monywa Township, Sagaing Region on the morning of July 10, local sources said.

Upon hearing that there was a fire on board a motorboat carrying oil drums at 9am on July 10 at the Thalawady jetty the fire brigade concerned and members of the social welfare organizations rushed to the place.

A responsible person from the Myanmar social relief organization (Monywa) said that they went over there as they heard the news in the morning, and that the fire was on board a boat that was carrying oil drums on board.

He further said that they tried to put out the fire on the drums that had gone drifting. He said that no one was injured, and that they had been working together with the fire brigade.

One resident of Monywa said that there was a loud sound of explosion at 9am so that even the house shook. He said that at first he thought there was a bomb explosion and that only later he came to know that oil drums at the jetty were burning.

The deputy director of Monywa District Fire Service Department said, "We have sent wire about the initial incidence of the fire. There was no report about the cause of the fire or about how much loss there was. The difficulty we faced was that the fire was on board a boat in the water, and while trying to put out the fire the boat sank, and the oil on the boat was burning drifting on the water. We had to make use of a speed boat to put out the fire on board another boat that had gone drifting in the water. The burning oil that was drifting on the water as well as the fire on the boat drifting had to be put out. The fire was in the water and not on land. As the fire was fuel fire we had to be very careful and we had to contain the fire with difficulty.  The fire was big because of the fuel oil. There was fuel on board the boat as well as in the hold. Due to this it was difficult to put out the fire. What I would like to say is that it was heard that the fire started while refueling, and so before doing so every precaution has to be taken when transferring fuel. In this incidence if fire extinguishers had been used the fire would not have been big".

The level 3 fire was extinguished by the fire brigade who went to the site at 9.45am.

The burning oil drums were put out at about 1pm, and those concerned were investigating the initial cause of the fire.