Kandla: A massive fire broke out on an oil products tanker with 14 Indian-origin crew members on board in the Gulf of Oman on Sunday. MT Yi Cheng 6 was on its way to the Shinas port in Oman from India’s Kandla.
INS Tabar, deployed in the Gulf of Oman, responded to the emergency and launched fire fighting operations, the Indian Navy has said. Equipment from the Indian warship, along with 13 personnel have been moved to the oil tanker to fight the blaze. Five crew members of the stricken ship have also joined the fire fighting effort, the Navy said. There is no information about the nine other crew members.
The Navy said that the blaze started in the engine room and there was total power failure on board.
“#INSTabar, mission deployed in the Gulf of Oman, responded to a distress call from Pulau flagged MT Yi Cheng 6, on #29Jun 25. The vessel with 14 crew members of Indian origin, transiting from Kandla, India to Shinas, Oman, experienced a major fire in the engine room and total power failure onboard,” the Indian Navy said in an X post.
“The fire fighting team and equipment from #INSTabar were transferred onboard by the ship’s boat and helicopter. 13 Indian naval personnel and 05 crew members of the stricken tanker are currently involved in firefighting operations, with the intensity of fire onboard reduced drastically,” it added.
The 90 meter long and 14 meter wide tanker is 22 years old and has a gross tonnage of 2,361 Tons.
Earlier this month, the MV Wan Hai 503, a Singapore-flagged container vessel caught fire off the Kerala coast. The Navy and Indian Coast Guard took part in rescue and fire fighting operations and got the ship towed away from the coast.
