At about 1600 on 26 January 2012, a fire broke out in the number one cargo hold of the general cargo ship BBC Baltic while contractors were conducting oxy cutting operations in the hold. The ship was berthed at Port Hedland and ship and shore personnel extinguished the fire. There were no injuries as a result of the incident. The ship was detained by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority pending an inspection.

On 27 January, after being notified of the incident, the ATSB initiated an investigation into the incident. The ATSB will collect incident related information from directly involved and relevant parties to report factual details of the incident and promulgate the safety messages and safety actions. When a draft investigation report is prepared, it will be forwarded to directly involved parties for comment.

A report has not yet been released for this investigation.

Safety Actions for this investigation

Safety Issues for this investigation