A spokesman for the rescue centre said the fire on the Panamanian-registered Gaz Poem was beginning to die down and winds were keeping flames away from the cargo area, lessening the risk of an explosion.
The tanker left Hong Kong last Wednesday for Yantian, a mainland Chinese port to the east. However, about 38km east of Hong Kong, the called alerted Hong Kong and Chinese authorities for help after sailors said they could not control the fire.
In Spain, news of a new oil slick from the sunken tanker Prestige has heightened alarm after Spanish authorities said they had seen the worst of the disaster. Deputy Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said about 11,000 tonnes of the 77,000 tonnes of oil from the tanker was moving towards shore.
However, the environmental organisation, including Greenpeace, believe the slick is more than twice that and accused the government of underestimating the size to shrug off financial responsibility.
Many commentators believe if the remaining oil in the Prestige gets to shore, it will be an environmental catastrophe worse than that created by the tanker Exxon Valdez, which spilt 37,000 tonnes off Alaska 10 years ago.
