Fire aboard survey vessel

AO MAKHAM: A fire broke out yesterday afternoon in the refrigerator room of the vessel Chulabhorn, berthed at the Phuket Marine Biological Center Pier. The fire started while welding work was being done on pipes in the room, said Pol Capt Thanapong Mokthong of the forensic science department, but was extinguished in half an hour using the vessel’s own fire-fighting equipment. The 200-foot-long Chulabhorn belongs to the Fisheries Department and is used for surveying natural resources outside Thai territorial waters.