(Adds comments from tanker owners)
By Hyonhee Shin and Terje Solsvik
SEOUL/OSLO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - A fire that spread across
two oil tankers in a South Korean port injured 10 people on
Saturday, coastguard and fire officials said, adding the blaze
had largely been put out.
An explosion occurred on the Stolt Groenland, a
25,000-tonne, Cayman Island-flagged oil tanker, at the southern
port of Ulsan at around 10:50 a.m. (0150 GMT), a coastguard
official said.
There were 25 sailors aboard, including Russians and
Filipinos.
The fire spread to another oil tanker docked nearby, the
9,000-tonne, South Korean-flagged Bow Dalian, with 21 aboard, he
said.
All of the sailors on both ships were rescued, but 10
people, most of whom were workers at the terminal, have been
wounded so far, a fire official told Reuters. Nine of them were
South Korean, including one in a critical condition, and the
other was from India.
"The fire has largely been put out but we are checking
inside the vessels if there are any flames left or smoke coming
out," the first official said.
Any impact on the terminal's output or the surrounding
environment appears minimal for now as the ships were at the
port for repair, he added.
The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the incident,
officials said.
Stolt Tankers, a unit of Oslo-listed Stolt-Nielsen SNI.OL
which owns the first ship, expressed concern about the incident.
"The safety of all people on site and the protection of the
environment is paramount to the company's operations," it said
in a statement.
Norway's Odfjell ODF.OL , which owns the other vessel, Bow
Dalian, said the ship had been towed to safety and its crew
accounted for.
"One of our crew members is undergoing treatment for light
injuries stemming from the fire," Odfjell spokeswoman Anngun
Dybsland said.