The crew of the Marshall Islands bulk carrier, Beks Force, have refused to evacuate their ship as it burns off the coast of Nakhodka in the Russian Primorsky Territory, the main directorate of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations stated on Friday.

"As far as we are informed, the crew has refused to evacuate. But our aviation is on standby. The ship is afloat, not sinking," a Ministry official told Sputnik.

The Ministry revealed that the ship holds 24 crew members and was sailing from China to Russia's Vostochny Port.

It added that injured personnel were evacuated from the vessel and were transferred to the coast as multiple ships of the Russian Marine Rescue Service and the regional border department of the country's Federal Security Service were deployed to the area where the disaster occurred.

The chairman of the Far Eastern regional office of the Russian Union of Sailors, Nikolai Sukhanov, informed Sputnik that the fire broke out in the engine room, adding that the ship is Turkish-owned.

The Spokesperson for the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport, Alexei Kravchenko, revealed that the crew members were able to contain the fire in the engine room and later asked for assistance to put the flames out.

"In Primorsky Territory, the transport prosecutor's office is conducting an inspection in connection with a fire on a foreign ship. According to preliminary data, there are 24 crew members on board," the Russian Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor's Office stated.