Romania tanker explosion kills 10

CONSTANTA, Romania -- At least 10 seamen died on Tuesday when an oil tanker they were repairing exploded in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta.

Shipyard workers welding the hull of the 85,000-tonne Maltese tanker Anopolis set off an explosion and fire that raged for an hour, Serban Berescu, the port's deputy director, told the Associated Press.

An official list submitted to the port authority indicated that 14 Romanian workers had been registered to refit the tanker, Reuters reported.

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Firefighters were still cutting into the side of the vessel in an effort to recover bodies and search for missing workers five hours after the explosion, which occurred at around 1 p.m. local time (1100 GMT).

Initial reports from the scene quoted an official at the Santierul Naval Constanta shipyard as saying the explosion may have been sparked by gases from crude oil residue in the tanker.

The fire was the second conflagration on the Anopolis in the past two weeks, according to the AP. It was also the second oil-tanker explosion in a month at Constanta, 155 miles east of Bucharest.

Two crew members were killed when a Bulgarian oil tanker exploded at the port on May 7.

Witness at the time reported seeing a column of dense brown smoke rising from the Bulgarian tanker, whose bow had been pointing up, out of the water, as four tug boats with firefighting equipment drew alongside.