A day after it caught fire off the coast of Kerala, a Singapore-flagged container ship with hazardous and flammable cargo is still on fire and has begun to tilt, the Coast Guard said. It also said that more containers had fallen off the ship on Tuesday.
The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has alerted that some of the containers would wash up along the Kerala coast.
The Coast Guard said the fire and explosions on the ship are now mainly in the middle part of the ship. “The forward‑bay fire is now under control, though thick smoke remains. The vessel is listing approximately 10 to 15 degrees to port (left side). More containers have fallen off the ship,” it said.
Coast Guard ships Samudra Prahari and Sachet are conducting firefighting operations and boundary cooling. Another ship, Samarth, is being deployed from Kochi, the Coast Guard said.
The defence spokesperson in Kochi, Commander Atul Pillai, said, “Of the 22 crew in the ship, 18 rescued persons were brought to Mangaluru port on Monday night and handed over to the shipping agent for hospital care. Despite adverse conditions, two Coast Guard ships had gone close to the ship for firefighting. Using waterjet nozzles, the ships have tried to cool down the burning container vessel. On Tuesday morning, a Dornier aircraft was deployed for aerial surveillance, and after that, the way ahead will be decided.”
He said searches are still underway for the missing crew. “Navy ship INS Sutlej is also at the location. INS Suraj, which brought the rescued crew to Mangaluru, has returned to the spot to enhance the operations. Search operations are still on for the missing four crew. The shipping firm has already appointed a salvage master,” he said.
The state disaster management authority on Tuesday released a list of the cargo aboard the vessel, which carried 157 containers. The cargo description (container manifest) shows the vessel has been carrying environmentally hazardous material in liquid and solid forms, and various types of flammable liquids. The cargo also includes printing ink, lithium batteries, naphthalene (crude and refined), and pesticides.
Meanwhile, INCOIS, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, has predicted that the containers, debris and other items that have fallen off the ship would drift south-southeast for the next three days, and a few of the containers could beach along the Kerala coast between Kozhikode and Kochi.
“Based on the simulation outputs generated by INCOIS using its Search and Rescue Aid Tool (SARAT), the containers are likely to continue to drift in the ocean for the next three days and might take longer to beach. However, caution is advised about a few containers beaching between Kozhikode and Kochi,” INCOIS said in an official communication.
