Container ship reportedly suffered fire in engine room in Indian ocean, at around 1930 UTC Jun 24, reports Maritime bulletin.
What happened?
The container ship, MSC Messina, reportedly suffered fire in engine room in Indian ocean halfway between Sri Lanka and Malacca Strait, at around 1930 UTC Jun 24.
The ship was disabled, and as of 0415 UTC Jun 25 remained disabled, adrift. She’s en route from Colombo Sri Lanka to Singapore.
Navy spokesperson Indika de Silva said the Liberian-flagged MSC Messina ship had left the port of Colombo on June 22 heading for Singapore and it caught fire outside the island’s international maritime borders.
He said the Navy was alerted to the ship’s fire early hours of Friday and since the ship is still within Sri Lanka’s search and rescue limits they were obliged to respond.
The fire was reported from the engine compartment of the vessel, which is currently located some 483 nautical miles away from Kirinda, the southern most tip of the island, the Navy spokesman said.
A merchant vessel in the proximity had been alerted to provide assistance and at this point it was unlikely that Sri Lanka Navy would be called upon to launch any rescue missions, the spokesperson said.
Jun 25 1310 UTC UPDATE:
1 crew is reported missing.
Vessel Information
Container ship MSC MESSINA, IMO 9074042, dwt 63014, capacity 4743, built 1995, flag Liberia, manager MSC.
Second cargo carrier to catch fire
This is the second cargo carrier to catch fire around the Sri Lankan waters. The fire on board the Singapore-flagged ‘X-Press Pearl’ near to the port of Colombo in May caused the country’s worst marine ecological disaster.
The cargo carrier was carrying 1,486 containers of chemicals when it caught fire. The Sri Lankan Navy, Airforce and the Indian Coast Guard jointly doused the fire in an operation that took several days. But the cargo sank off the country’s coast on June 17.
More than 60 dead Sea Turtles and other sea creatures, including Dolphins, suspected to have died in the aftermath of the ship disaster, have washed ashore along various beaches of the island.
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Source: The Hindu
