Lethal explosion in Romania port

At least 10 people are reported to have been killed in an explosion on an oil tanker in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta.
The powerful blast occurred as Romanian workers carried out welding work on the hull of the 32,000-tonne Malta-flagged ship, the Anapolis.

Several ambulances were on the scene and it took firefighters an hour to bring a blaze caused by the explosion under control.

Rescue workers were still struggling five hours after the explosion to slice open the wreckage and search for the missing.

Paraffin and mud

It was not immediately clear how many people might have been involved.

The explosion occurred at about 1300 (1000 GMT) and set off a fire that raged for an hour, said Serban Berescu, the port's deputy director.

Initial reports suggested a welder's torch ignited a mixture of paraffin and mud.

It was the second oil tanker to explode in less than a month in Constanta, 250km (155 miles) east of the Romanian capital, Bucharest.

On 8 May, the Bulgarian oil tanker, Mesta, exploded, killing two members of the crew and filling the air with clouds of black smoke.

news.bbc.co.uk