Ships Collide on Seine; 5 Missing
ROUEN, France — Two tankers collided on the Seine River near this western port today, causing a fire and explosion that killed one sailor, injured two and left five missing, port officials reported.
They said the explosion on the 16,000-ton Panama-registered Vitoria, which split in two and sank, was strong enough to blow windows out of buildings in a 2 1/2-mile radius. Officials said the Vitoria unloaded gasoline in the Rouen port at 10 a.m. and soon afterward the 11,000-ton Japanese tanker Fuyo Maru, bound upriver from Le Havre with a cargo of kerosene, had a steering problem and rammed the other tanker.
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