Kozhikode: A merchant vessel, carrying 650 containers from Colombo to the Nhava Sheva Port in Mumbai, caught fire after an explosion on board, about 78 nautical miles off Beypore in Kozhikode, Kerala, on Monday morning. The Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard have launched a co-ordinated rescue operation.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed that the Navy received information at 10.30 am of an ‘underdeck’ explosion on board the Singapore-flagged MV Wan Hai 503. The destroyer INS Surat was immediately diverted towards the location, and Dornier aircraft took off from INS Garuda in Kochi.
The Coast Guard has also deployed four vessels including ICGS Rajdoot, ICGS Arnvesh and ICGS Sachet for rescue operations. A Coast Guard Dornier is also operational.
Officials said that of the 22 crew members, 18 have abandoned ship. Some of them have suffered burn injuries. There is no information about the remaining four. About 20 containers are said to have fallen into the sea.
The 20-year-old vessel is 268.8 metres long and 32.3 metres wide. It left Colombo on June 7 and was to reach Mumbai on Monday. The ship was travelling at a speed of 14 nautical miles.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed Ernakulam and Kozhikode district collectors to arrange hospital treatment for the ship’s crew when they are brought ashore.
Less than a fortnight ago, another container ship, MSC ELSA 3, had capsized about 38 nautical miles off the Kochi coast. While all crew members were rescued alive, several containers, some of them with hazardous cargo, ended up at various locations along the Kerala coast.
