All 17 crew members were safely taken off a cargo ship after it suffered a serious blaze at anchorage in Indonesia.

Domestic media reported that welding work was taking place in the accommodation block on the 1,800-dwt Fortuner (built 1990) at the Sandar waiting area off the port of Gresik on Thursday afternoon.

They cited one of the seafarers as saying a spark caused the fire and thick smoke filled a cabin very quickly.

Video footage showed bright orange flames towards the stern, while black smoke drifted across the bay.

Another report blamed the incident on an electrical short circuit, however.

An Indonesian naval patrol unit carried out the evacuation.

The vessel is listed as out of range by the AIS system.

No port state control inspections are listed for the ship on the Equasis website.

The Fortuner is listed as owned by Prime Tirta Jaya of Surabaya, Indonesia.

Chinese tanker blast

It is the second major casualty incident in Asia in a matter of days.

On 10 January, two seafarers were reported missing following a blast on a Chinese tanker in the Rizhao area of China.

Domestic media did not identify the small vessel.

The Beihai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport said it had received a notification from the Shandong Provincial Maritime Search and Rescue Centre that an explosion had occurred on the vessel, which was in ballast at the time.