Sailor killed in oil tanker blast

CONSTANTA, Romania -- One sailor has been killed by an explosion on a Bulgarian oil tanker just outside the Black Sea port of Constanta.

Rescuers said six people, including the captain, remained trapped on the 75,000-tonne capacity Mesta, which was billowing smoke as a fire spread on Monday, Reuters news agency said.

Another person was missing but the remaining 27 crew, had been picked up by rescue tugboats.

"The fire is spreading and the danger of another explosion is very great," the captain of one of the rescue vessels, Vicentiu Tomita, told Romania's Pro-TV.

Other ships were immediately evacuated from the area around the Mesta, which had been anchored 1.5 km (one mile) outside the port for the past 10 days and was carrying no cargo, Tomita said.

Witnesses said a column of dense brown smoke was rising from the tanker, whose bow was pointing up out of the water as four tug boats with firefighting equipment drew alongside.

A source at the Maritime Shipping Administration in the Bulgarian port of Varna told Reuters the Mesta, which was built in 1974, had been waiting to dock in Constanta for repairs.

The explosion that started the fire at 11:06 a.m. (0806 GMT) was clearly audible from the shore, Constanta residents said.

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