Oil tanker blaze off Hong Kong with One reported Dead

An oil tanker caught fire just off Hong Kong with more than 20 people rescued and one person confirmed dead. 

In the incident, twenty-one people have been rescued after those on board the vessel either fell or jumped into the sea, according to a police spokesperson, although it is not yet clear if more people are still missing and a number of the victims had suffered burns. 

In a picture of the tanker posted by the Hong Kong Police, it was seen with large plumes of black smoke emanating from its middle and flames still burning on the deck.

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Officers said they received a report that an oil tanker exploded and caught fire in waters south of the outlying Lamma Island.
A resident of Lamma Island's Mo Tat New Village who gave his name as Shu said "I heard several banging and rumbling sounds, like someone with big hands knocking my glass door, with a smaller banging sound followed about 10 seconds later"

Apple Daily, a local news site also released a photo showing an orange blaze on the ship belching out heavy smoke.
The name on the front of the tanker is the visible and it is Aulac Fortune, which the Hong Kong marine department tracker website showed as arriving at the South Lamma anchorage around 2.58 am Tuesday local time.

The MarineTraffic.com website states that the tanker as registered in Vietnam and left the southern Chinese industrial city of Dongguan on Monday.

In immediate response as reported by the South China Morning Post reported, Authorities have dispatched marine police vessels, fireboats and a helicopter in an ongoing rescue operation.