Two crew members were injured after a fire broke out aboard motor tanker Gindara at Balayan Distillery Inc. Port in Calaca City, Batangas, the Philippines.

The fire occurred on 30 September 2026 while the tanker was carrying molasses with 22 crew members on board. According to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the blaze originated in the vessel’s engine room.

Twenty crew members were reported safe, while two required medical treatment. One was admitted to Metro Lemery Medical Center for further treatment and monitoring. The other was treated at Metro Calaca Hospital for an inhalation injury before being discharged against medical advice.

Coast Guard Sub-Station Lemery responded to the incident together with the Bureau of Fire Protection in Calaca City and local tugboats. Personnel from Coast Guard District Southern Tagalog, Coast Guard units in Balayan and Batangas City, medical teams and the Maritime Safety Investigation Unit were also deployed.

The Philippine Coast Guard sent the 44 m multi-role response vessel BRP Malapascua (MRRV-4403) to support the emergency response.

Initial updates indicated that visible flames around the bridge and superstructure had been extinguished, although smoke continued to emerge from the vessel.

Coast Guard District Southern Tagalog later reported that the fire was officially declared extinguished at around 14:45 on 2 October 2026.

The operation subsequently moved into the recovery stage, with dewatering carried out to remove accumulated water from the engine room and maintain the vessel’s stability.

The sequence of updates shows how the response progressed from active firefighting to vessel recovery operations over the following two days.

The incident also follows other shipboard fires, including an engine-room fire aboard a dry cargo vessel during maintenance at a Turkish shipyard in June 2026.

Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the Gindara fire, and the incident remains under investigation.