All 25 Missing Confirmed Dead After Fire Guts Cargo Ship at China's Qingdao State Shipyard

Since the fire broke out around 11:15 a.m. local time Thursday aboard the cargo ship Ocean Melody, search crews at China's Qingdao port have confirmed all 25 people reported missing are dead. State broadcaster CCTV reported at 7:24 p.m. local time that the last of the missing had been found, "none showing signs of life."

The Ocean Melody, a 20-year-old Liberia-flagged dry bulk carrier, had been docked since Aug. 31 at the Qingdao Beihai shipyard for repair and inspection work, according to LSEG ship-tracking data cited by CBC. The vessel is managed by Yuyangkunpeng Shanghai Shp Mgm, with Huili Shipping Co. Ltd. listed as the registered owner.

Of the 42 people aboard when the fire started, 17 were evacuated safely, five of them with injuries requiring hospital treatment, according to Xinhua, China's state news agency. Those five remained in stable condition, Xinhua said. State media reported the flames were extinguished by around 2:30 p.m., roughly three hours after they broke out.

The repair yard, Beihai Shipbuilding Co., is a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, the state-owned conglomerate that CSSC itself describes as China's principal naval shipbuilder and its largest designer and builder of ships and offshore equipment, according to CBC. CSSC is widely cited as the largest shipbuilder in the world by output.

Xi Orders Investigation, Accountability

President Xi Jinping issued what Xinhua called "important instructions" calling for an urgent rescue effort and a swift investigation into the cause. Xi also said officials must "strictly hold those responsible to account," according to Al Jazeera's translation of the Xinhua dispatch.

Premier Li Qiang separately called for rescuing any "trapped" people, ensuring the injured received medical treatment, and taking steps to "strictly prevent secondary disasters," Xinhua reported.

Xi went further in remarks carried by Xinhua and reported by Euronews and Al Jazeera, telling officials nationwide that "all regions and relevant departments must draw profound lessons from this incident, thoroughly investigate and rectify all types of fire hazards." The South China Morning Post called the direct involvement of top leadership in an accident report a rare instance of instructions from Beijing's highest levels accompanying a workplace disaster.

As of Thursday evening, no Chinese authority had publicly identified what ignited the fire. The ship had been undergoing repair work for roughly 10 days before the blaze, per LSEG data, but neither Xinhua nor CCTV has detailed what specific work was underway or whether it involved welding, fuel systems, or other fire-risk activity common during dry-dock repairs.

What's Still Unknown

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Chinese state media has not released the nationalities or roles of the 25 dead. It remains unclear whether any of the deceased were shipyard workers, Beihai Shipbuilding employees, or crew members of the Ocean Melody itself, a distinction that matters for determining whether workplace safety violations, not just an accidental fire, are in play.

Coverage across outlets was largely consistent on the core numbers, all citing Xinhua and CCTV as the original source. This is functionally one data stream repeated across wire services rather than independent verification from multiple newsrooms. Fox News and the AP wire report used the earlier figure of 12 people "safely rescued" plus five hospitalized. Euronews's later dispatch, citing an updated CCTV report, folded those into a single figure of 17 evacuated. The numbers reconcile, they're just presented differently depending on when each outlet filed.

Qingdao is one of China's busiest ports, handling millions of containers annually and hosting several major shipyards tied to the country's shipbuilding industry. Beijing has built the industry into the world's largest by tonnage delivered. Whether this fire triggers any broader safety review of CSSC's repair yards, or draws scrutiny from foreign shipping insurers over vessels sent to Chinese state yards for maintenance, is not yet known.