A THAI mariner, one of the 23 crew members successfully evacuated from the blazing 15,262-TEU Maersk Honam, has died from his injuries, while four remain missing.

The dead seafarer was one of two crew members that the Danish shipping giant Maersk Line had said was receiving medical attention. The company said his condition "drastically deteriorated".

"We are deeply saddened with the passing of one of our colleagues who in the first place had been evacuated. The seriousness of the event has escalated and everyone in Maersk is moved by this. We are in contact with the family of the deceased and our thoughts and condolences go to them," said Soren Toft, COO and member of the Executive Board of AP Moller-Maersk.

Four other seafarers are still missing from the 2017-built vessel after a fire erupted in one of its cargo holds 15:20 hrs GMT on Tuesday 900 nautical miles southeast of Salalah, Oman. An explosion is reported to have followed the fire with flames rising 25 metres above the main deck of the vessel to the bridge. Unsuccessful in their attempts to tackle the fire the crew of the Mearsk Honam sent a distress call and 23 were evacuated to the nearby vessel ALS Ceres.

"We are doing our outmost in this tragic situation to care for all evacuated colleagues and continue the intense search and rescue operations ongoing for the four crew members currently reported missing," Mr Toft said.

The 22 surviving crew are enroute to Sri Lanka onboard the ALS Ceres, Maritime Seatrade News of Colchester, UK, reported.

Fire continues onboard the vessel and Maersk described the situation as "very critical". Five vessels are involved in the search and rescue operations with the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller coordinating.

Maersk said the cause of the fire was unknown.

The Singapore-flagged Maersk Honam was on enroute from Singapore to Suez with 7,860 containers, equalling 12,416 TEU, onboard at the time of the fire.