SEOUL, Aug 16, (Xinhua): One person was killed and two others were injured as two vessels caught fire at a port in southern South Korea, Yonhap news agency said Saturday. A fire broke out on the 2,692-ton oil tanker and the 24-ton cargo ship for an unidentified reason at about 1:04 a.m. local time (1604 GMT Friday).

At the time of the accident, the two vessels were moored next to each other at a port in Yeosu, around 320 km south of the capital Seoul. All 18 crewmen, including 14 on the tanker and four on the cargo vessel, were rescued, but the cargo ship's captain was found unconscious before being confirmed dead. Two foreign sailors aboard the tanker suffered burn injuries.

The fire was extinguished at about 7:45 a.m. local time as the firefighters had difficulty because of the tanker, which contained some 2,500 tons of toxic chemicals. Whether the chemicals had spilled into the ocean was not confirmed yet. The coast guard would investigate the exact cause of the accident.