Fire breaks out on Panama-flagged oil tanker

Ships, boats and aircraft from Sri Lanka and India were escalating efforts to douse a fire raging on an oil tanker east of Sri Lanka for a second day on Friday.

The navy of the Indian Ocean island nation confirmed one crew member from the MT New Diamond had died "in a boiler explosion."

The fire that started Thursday in an engine room boiler injured one other crew member and is still raging.

According to a Sri Lankan navy spokesperson, the blaze hadn't spread into the oil storage area of the ship and no oil leakage has been reported.

A Sri Lankan air force helicopter was picking up seawater in a bucket then flying back to dump the water on the burning tanker, according to an air force spokesperson.

The air force also had an observation aircraft deployed to provide feedback to the authorities.

The Sri Lankan navy sent four ships in response to the alarm it received Thursday, and they picked up 19 crew members who had left the burning tanker on lifeboats, according to the navy spokesman.

As the navy ships tried to put out the fire, the captain and two others abandoned the tanker, he said.

Three ships from Sri Lanka, two ships from India, Indian coast guard aircraft and two Sri Lankan tug boats have joined the firefighting efforts.

The tanker's 23 crew are 18 Filipinos and five Greeks. The dead and injured crew are both Filipino.