Dubai, May 9 (IANS). A South Korean government team continued to investigate the cause of a fire aboard the cargo ship HMM Namu on Saturday. The ship is operated by Korean shipping company HMM and was stranded in the Strait of Hormuz.
HMM Namu arrived at Drydocks World Dubai, the Middle East’s largest ship repair facility, in the early hours of Friday (local time) where it is being inspected by a government inspection team, Yonhap News Agency quoted officials as saying.
According to Yonhap news agency, the seven-member team includes three investigators from the Korea Maritime Safety Tribunal and four experts from the National Fire Agency. Officials are saying that the team is examining the journey data recorder, CCTV footage and statements of the crew members. The sailors were questioned regarding this accident.
On Friday, the government team sent 25 sailors to an accommodation center in Dubai. Six of these were South Koreans.
The fire at HMM broke out on Monday, the same day the US launched “Project Freedom”, aimed at providing safe passage to ships stuck in the waterway amid ongoing tensions between the US and Iran.
After this incident, contradictory claims have emerged whether the fire was caused by an Iranian attack or due to some internal technical fault.
Meanwhile, South Korean Defense Minister Ahn-Yu Baek will visit the US next week, where he will meet US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Several pending issues including transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) between the two countries are likely to be discussed.
According to the Defense Ministry, Ahn will leave for Washington on a five-day visit from Sunday and will hold talks with his American counterpart on Monday (US time). This will be his first visit to America after becoming Defense Minister.
The visit comes at a time when South Korea is trying to take back wartime control of its troops from the US and is also pushing for plans to build nuclear-powered submarines with American cooperation.
–IANS
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