On March 28, a massive fire erupted on a container ship following an explosion off Agatti Islands.
What happened?
The Singapore flagged container ship ‘Maersk Honam’ was rocked by an explosion following a massive fire off the Agatti Island. The vessel enroute from singapore to Suez in Egypt had 27 crew members when it caught fire.
The reason for the container vessel catching fire has not yet been determined. The crew members are from India, Philippines, Britain, Romania and Thailand.
Distress call raised
A distress call was raised from the stricken vessel to the Coast Guard’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) located at Mumbai. The Indian Coast Guard dispatched a Boeing P8i aircraft which rushed to the scene of the incident and alerted all merchant ships near the location.
A merchant navy ship ‘MV Als Cicero’, also reached the stricken ship and reported that the container vessel was consumed in flames.
Currently, twenty three members were rescued by the merchant navy ship and four crew members were reported to be missing at sea.
Search and Rescue efforts
The Coast Guard Inspector General K.R. Nautiyal, the Coast Guard Commander (West), said: “Search Operations are on and it is our priority to save and rescue the four missing crew and also continue our efforts to salvage the vessel with assistance of specialised vessels, which is being arranged in coordination with the ship agency”.
The crew abandoned the ship as the fire spread beyond their control. The Coast Guard ship ‘Shoor’ equipped with sophisticated fire fighting equipment, patrolling near Lakshadweep Islands, was diverted to assist the distressed vessel.
Disclaimer: The above image is for representation of the below incident and need not be considered as an actual case image.
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Source: Business Standard
