Firefighting efforts continue for 5th day on Singaporean vessel off Kerala; 8 ICG ships deployed
Five days after a massive fire broke out aboard the Singapore-flagged cargo vessel, firefighting efforts by Indian Coast Gaurd (ICG) continue off the Kerala coast. Amidst the ongoing efforts, the Indian Coast Guard has deployed eight ships - Sachet, Samarth, Saksham, Samudra Prahari, Vikram, Rajdoot, Kasturba Gandhi, and Arnvesh to contain the fire and mitigate any potential further damage.
The MV Wan Hai 503 cargo vessel was en route to Mumbai from Colombo, went ablaze which was triggered by a container explosion, on June 9 at around 9:20 am IST, 130 nautical miles northwest of Kochi.
A Navy spokesperson attributed the swift response by the salvage team of the Indian Navy to reinforce the rescue efforts. "The salvage team members were embarked onboard a Seaking helicopter at INS Garuda, Kochi. The Naval helicopter successfully inserted the team on the vessel amidst challenging weather and sea conditions and fire onboard', he told PTI.
Out of the 22 crew members aboard the Singapore-flagged vessel, 18 were successfully rescued on Monday by the Navy, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), and other agencies.
According to an ICG statement released on June 9, the crew comprised eight Chinese nationals, six Taiwanese, five Myanmarese, and three Indonesian nationals.
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