Indian Navy rescues crew members of fire-stricken Singapore-flagged ship
The Indian Navy has successfully rescued 18 crew members from a Singapore-flagged container ship that caught fire off the coast of southwestern India on Monday. The rescued crew from the 'MV Wan Hai 503' was taken on board a naval vessel to Mangaluru on Monday night, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency has reported, citing defense officials.
The Singapore-flagged container ship, which was en route from Colombo to Mumbai, suffered an internal container explosion and a subsequent major fire onboard on Monday morning, according to Indian media outlets. Preliminary reports suggest that 10-15 containers fell overboard as a result of the explosion.
The vessel was carrying a total of 22 crew members from various countries, including eight Chinese, six Taiwanese, five Myanmarese, and three Indonesian nationals, officials said. Eighteen sailors were rescued from the stricken ship with 'some injuries,' according to The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. Four crew members remain missing, while five are being treated for injuries in a Mangaluru hospital.
The underdeck blast on the vessel was initially reported to the Indian Coast Guard's Maritime Operations Centre in the southern city of Kochi by its Mumbai counterparts. In response the Indian Navy quickly diverted the INS Surat to provide immediate assistance to the distressed vessel, reports said.
The Chinese embassy in New Delhi thanked the Indian Navy and Mumbai Coast Guard for swiftly rescuing the crew members.
On June 9, MV Wan Hai 503 encountered onboard explosion and fire 44 nautical miles off Azhikkal, Kerala. Of the total 22 crew members on board, 14 are Chinese, including 6 from Taiwan. Our gratitude goes to the Indian Navy @indiannavy and the Mumbai Coast Guard for their prompt… https://t.co/3V8vr1xVW9
Local media also reported that five Indian Coast Guard vessels were battling the fire on Tuesday, with explosions continuing from the middle section of the ship to the container storage area, located in front of the crew's living quarters. A Dornier aircraft is conducting an aerial survey of the site, according to reports.
Efforts to mitigate the situation are being monitored by an environmental observation vessel, but the magnitude of the ecological impact remains to be assessed.
This incident comes close on the heels of another shipping accident in the area. On May 25, the Liberian-flagged MSC ELSA 3 sank off the coast of southwest India.
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Russia Today
7 days ago
- Russia Today
‘All we have left are photos': Families of crash victims hold on to final memories
What began as a joyful Eid homecoming turned into an unimaginable tragedy for the Syed family in Malad, a suburb of Mumbai in Maharashtra's western region. Their son, Javed Ali Syed – an award-winning hotel manager based in the UK – had returned home with his wife, Mariam, and their two young children, six-year-old Amani and four-year-old Zayn, to celebrate Eid al-Adha, the annual Muslim festival that fell on June 7 this year. On June 12, the family of four boarded their flight back to London, carrying memories and promises of a future reunion. But fate had other plans. 'I still can't believe my brother and his entire family are gone,' said Syed Imtiaz Ali, Javed's younger brother, as he waited anxiously for the DNA identification process at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. 'I still look at his messages, his photos… I can't accept that he's gone,' Ali said, his voice heavy with grief. 'I keep thinking he'll call, that he'll come back. We haven't even told our mother – she's a heart patient. She wouldn't be able to bear this loss.' He added that he hasn't slept in days. It was Javed's wife, Mariam, who had booked Air India Flight 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick. But the journey ended in catastrophe – the plane crashed just moments after takeoff, leaving only one survivor. Javed, Mariam, and their two young children were among the youngest victims of what is now counted as one of India's deadliest aviation tragedies. The tragedy of June 12 unfolded in mere seconds – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, crashing into a medical college in a densely populated residential area. Thick plumes of black smoke choked the sky for hours. A journey of celebration for many left the whole of India in mourning. 'We didn't know this would be his last Eid,' Javed's father said, his voice breaking. 'All four of them were British citizens. We had no idea it would be the last time we saw them.' He spoke of Javed's long struggle to build a life in the UK. 'He worked so hard to get settled there. He had finally made it. He had promised to support everyone back home. He was happy about a promotion, and he wanted to buy a house for his mother, to take her to London. But our world has collapsed.' 'We are a lower-middle-class family. Javed was our hope. We can't come to terms with losing four members of our family. We just can't accept it.' Only one person miraculously survived the London-bound Air India flight, walking away from the wreckage with impact injuries. Many have called it nothing short of a miracle. The rest, authorities said, were burned beyond recognition, their identities still being confirmed through DNA testing. At Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital, grieving families refuse to leave until they see what remains, no matter how devastating. 'We want to see them one last time,' said Imtiaz, adding that his eyes are locked on his phone, scrolling through photos of his niece and nephew – snapshots taken just before the family boarded the doomed flight. He shared a twist of fate that spared another member of the family. 'My elder sister had planned to travel with them,' he said. 'But she couldn't get a ticket and had to take a different flight. She reached London – they didn't.' India's federal government has launched a high-level inquiry into the crash, with the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) leading the probe, supported by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and international experts from the UK, US, and the aircraft's engine manufacturers. In response to growing safety concerns, the Civil Aviation Ministry has also ordered enhanced maintenance checks across Air India's entire Boeing 787 fleet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the crash site and met with survivors in hospital, called the tragedy 'heartbreaking beyond words.' For residents living near the crash site, the sound was deafening. 'It was like a massive blast, followed by thick black smoke billowing into the sky,' said Nitin Sirkar, 45, who lives just ten minutes away from where the aircraft went down in Ahmedabad. 'We couldn't understand what had happened.' An official involved in the rescue operation told RT that fragments of the aircraft were scattered across the area, and the victims' bodies were charred beyond recognition. 'The smoke from the wreckage didn't stop for hours,' the official added. Four days on, authorities are still in the process of identifying victims through DNA testing – a painstaking task that has left grieving families in anguish. While officials say they are working around the clock, the sheer scale of destruction has made the process agonizingly slow. 'The most haunting part was receiving fragments instead of whole bodies – it broke everyone,' said a hospital worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity. According to him, medical staff have been working nonstop to expedite the DNA matching process so the remains can be handed over for the final rites. 'The families are devastated and angry. Each day feels like a year to them,' he said. 'We understand their pain, but the damage is beyond comprehension. The bodies are burned, charred, and reduced to unrecognizable pieces.' Dr Prateek Joshi was the only son of Mohan and Sunita Joshi from the northern state of Rajasthan. In his last selfie, Prakeet's family of five is sitting across from each other on the flight, wide smiles lighting up their faces, as if a long-awaited dream had finally taken flight. They didn't know it would be their last. According to his family, Dr Prateek Joshi had spent years building his life between two worlds – India, where his roots ran deep, and the UK, where a promising future awaited. The consultant radiologist had recently started working at Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital Burton. After over two years of working away from his family, he was finally bringing them over to begin a new chapter in the UK. On June 12, he boarded the Air India flight from Ahmedabad with his wife, Komi Vyas, a physiotherapist, and their three young children – daughter Miraya and twin sons, Pradyut and Nakul. 'The family had been preparing for this moment for months. Komi had resigned from her job in India to join her husband, and the children were excited to settle into a new home in Leicester, where my son had already set up a life for them,' relayed Mohan Joshi, father of Prateek, from his home in Banswara, Rajasthan. Joshi said that their world had ended in a single instant. 'I had bought new school bags for my grandkids, and during the last night in India, they kept them close to themselves and said they would use them in London. I cannot forget their faces, their voice still rings in my ears. Prateek always spoke of reuniting and a bright future ahead. Now, that future has vanished,' Mohan added, his voice shaking with grief. Prateek's mother is unable to hold on to the shock of losing her son and his whole family in the crash. 'He worked so hard for a better future, only to end like this. Now, our lives and our home are empty without them and with the thought that they will never be back,' Sunita Joshi said. The families have spent sleepless nights in the corridors of Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital – crying, waiting, hoping against hope to take their loved ones home, or what remains of them. The Air India flight had crashed into the residential quarters of BJ Medical College, setting off a firestorm that sent thick plumes of black smoke spiraling into the sky – a scene captured in haunting eyewitness videos. Among the victims was former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, whose death sent shockwaves through the state. Of the 242 people on board, the passenger list included two pilots and ten cabin crew. A total of 169 were Indian nationals, while 53 were citizens of the United Kingdom. India has faced several major air disasters. The worst was the 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, which killed 349 people. In 1985, the bombing of Air India Flight 182 off Ireland killed 329. The 1978 Mumbai crash claimed 213 lives, and the 2020 Kozhikode crash killed 21. Most recently, the 2025 Ahmedabad Air India crash left 241 dead out of 242 on board, marking one of the deadliest in India's aviation history. Raveena Christian is mourning the loss of her son, Lawrence Christian, at their home in Ahmedabad. The 30-year-old, who worked in Britain, had returned to India just two weeks earlier to perform the last rites of his father. On June 12, he was on his way back – but never made it. 'Just 17 days ago, I lost my husband,' Raveena said, her voice trembling. 'My daughter is still studying, and Lawrence was the one holding our family together. He had taken a loan for our home… he was everything to us.' She recalled frantically searching the hospital for signs of hope. 'I kept wandering from ward to ward, thinking maybe – just maybe – he had survived.''We don't know how to go on without him,' she said. 'Our lives are shattered.'
Russia Today
23-06-2025
- Russia Today
‘Our world is over': Relatives of Air India victims mourn their loss
What began as a joyful Eid homecoming turned into an unimaginable tragedy for the Syed family in Malad, a suburb of Mumbai in Maharashtra's western region. Their son, Javed Ali Syed – an award-winning hotel manager based in the UK – had returned home with his wife, Mariam, and their two young children, six-year-old Amani and four-year-old Zayn, to celebrate Eid al-Adha, the annual Muslim festival that fell on June 7 this year. On June 12, the family of four boarded their flight back to London, carrying memories and promises of a future reunion. But fate had other plans. 'I still can't believe my brother and his entire family are gone,' said Syed Imtiaz Ali, Javed's younger brother, as he waited anxiously for the DNA identification process at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. 'I still look at his messages, his photos… I can't accept that he's gone,' Ali said, his voice heavy with grief. 'I keep thinking he'll call, that he'll come back. We haven't even told our mother – she's a heart patient. She wouldn't be able to bear this loss.' He added that he hasn't slept in days. It was Javed's wife, Mariam, who had booked Air India Flight 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick. But the journey ended in catastrophe – the plane crashed just moments after takeoff, leaving only one survivor. Javed, Mariam, and their two young children were among the youngest victims of what is now counted as one of India's deadliest aviation tragedies. The tragedy of June 12 unfolded in mere seconds – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, crashing into a medical college in a densely populated residential area. Thick plumes of black smoke choked the sky for hours. A journey of celebration for many left the whole of India in mourning. 'We didn't know this would be his last Eid,' Javed's father said, his voice breaking. 'All four of them were British citizens. We had no idea it would be the last time we saw them.' He spoke of Javed's long struggle to build a life in the UK. 'He worked so hard to get settled there. He had finally made it. He had promised to support everyone back home. He was happy about a promotion, and he wanted to buy a house for his mother, to take her to London. But our world has collapsed.' 'We are a lower-middle-class family. Javed was our hope. We can't come to terms with losing four members of our family. We just can't accept it.' Only one person miraculously survived the London-bound Air India flight, walking away from the wreckage with impact injuries. Many have called it nothing short of a miracle. The rest, authorities said, were burned beyond recognition, their identities still being confirmed through DNA testing. At Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital, grieving families refuse to leave until they see what remains, no matter how devastating. 'We want to see them one last time,' said Imtiaz, adding that his eyes are locked on his phone, scrolling through photos of his niece and nephew – snapshots taken just before the family boarded the doomed flight. He shared a twist of fate that spared another member of the family. 'My elder sister had planned to travel with them,' he said. 'But she couldn't get a ticket and had to take a different flight. She reached London – they didn't.' India's federal government has launched a high-level inquiry into the crash, with the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) leading the probe, supported by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and international experts from the UK, US, and the aircraft's engine manufacturers. In response to growing safety concerns, the Civil Aviation Ministry has also ordered enhanced maintenance checks across Air India's entire Boeing 787 fleet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the crash site and met with survivors in hospital, called the tragedy 'heartbreaking beyond words.' For residents living near the crash site, the sound was deafening. 'It was like a massive blast, followed by thick black smoke billowing into the sky,' said Nitin Sirkar, 45, who lives just ten minutes away from where the aircraft went down in Ahmedabad. 'We couldn't understand what had happened.' An official involved in the rescue operation told RT that fragments of the aircraft were scattered across the area, and the victims' bodies were charred beyond recognition. 'The smoke from the wreckage didn't stop for hours,' the official added. Four days on, authorities are still in the process of identifying victims through DNA testing – a painstaking task that has left grieving families in anguish. While officials say they are working around the clock, the sheer scale of destruction has made the process agonizingly slow. 'The most haunting part was receiving fragments instead of whole bodies – it broke everyone,' said a hospital worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity. According to him, medical staff have been working nonstop to expedite the DNA matching process so the remains can be handed over for the final rites. 'The families are devastated and angry. Each day feels like a year to them,' he said. 'We understand their pain, but the damage is beyond comprehension. The bodies are burned, charred, and reduced to unrecognizable pieces.' Dr Prateek Joshi was the only son of Mohan and Sunita Joshi from the northern state of Rajasthan. In his last selfie, Prakeet's family of five is sitting across from each other on the flight, wide smiles lighting up their faces, as if a long-awaited dream had finally taken flight. They didn't know it would be their last. According to his family, Dr Prateek Joshi had spent years building his life between two worlds – India, where his roots ran deep, and the UK, where a promising future awaited. The consultant radiologist had recently started working at Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital Burton. After over two years of working away from his family, he was finally bringing them over to begin a new chapter in the UK. On June 12, he boarded the Air India flight from Ahmedabad with his wife, Komi Vyas, a physiotherapist, and their three young children – daughter Miraya and twin sons, Pradyut and Nakul. 'The family had been preparing for this moment for months. Komi had resigned from her job in India to join her husband, and the children were excited to settle into a new home in Leicester, where my son had already set up a life for them,' relayed Mohan Joshi, father of Prateek, from his home in Banswara, Rajasthan. Joshi said that their world had ended in a single instant. 'I had bought new school bags for my grandkids, and during the last night in India, they kept them close to themselves and said they would use them in London. I cannot forget their faces, their voice still rings in my ears. Prateek always spoke of reuniting and a bright future ahead. Now, that future has vanished,' Mohan added, his voice shaking with grief. Prateek's mother is unable to hold on to the shock of losing her son and his whole family in the crash. 'He worked so hard for a better future, only to end like this. Now, our lives and our home are empty without them and with the thought that they will never be back,' Sunita Joshi said. The families have spent sleepless nights in the corridors of Ahmedabad's Civil Hospital – crying, waiting, hoping against hope to take their loved ones home, or what remains of them. The Air India flight had crashed into the residential quarters of BJ Medical College, setting off a firestorm that sent thick plumes of black smoke spiraling into the sky – a scene captured in haunting eyewitness videos. Among the victims was former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, whose death sent shockwaves through the state. Of the 242 people on board, the passenger list included two pilots and ten cabin crew. A total of 169 were Indian nationals, while 53 were citizens of the United Kingdom. India has faced several major air disasters. The worst was the 1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, which killed 349 people. In 1985, the bombing of Air India Flight 182 off Ireland killed 329. The 1978 Mumbai crash claimed 213 lives, and the 2020 Kozhikode crash killed 21. Most recently, the 2025 Ahmedabad Air India crash left 241 dead out of 242 on board, marking one of the deadliest in India's aviation history. Raveena Christian is mourning the loss of her son, Lawrence Christian, at their home in Ahmedabad. The 30-year-old, who worked in Britain, had returned to India just two weeks earlier to perform the last rites of his father. On June 12, he was on his way back – but never made it. 'Just 17 days ago, I lost my husband,' Raveena said, her voice trembling. 'My daughter is still studying, and Lawrence was the one holding our family together. He had taken a loan for our home… he was everything to us.' She recalled frantically searching the hospital for signs of hope. 'I kept wandering from ward to ward, thinking maybe – just maybe – he had survived.''We don't know how to go on without him,' she said. 'Our lives are shattered.'
Russia Today
14-06-2025
- Russia Today
Air India disaster death toll climbs to 270
The death toll from the Air India crash on Thursday has risen to 270, making it one of the deadliest disasters of its kind in the country's history. The plane slammed into a medical college dormitory, leaving one survivor from the flight. Search and rescue workers recovered more bodies from the site late Friday, pushing the death toll higher, officials told media on Saturday. The authorities had earlier put the body count at 265. 'Around 270 bodies have been brought to the civil hospital so far from the plane crash site,' Dr. Dhaval Gamet at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad told reporters on Saturday. He added that the only survivor was still under observation for some of his wounds. In an interview with India's public broadcaster Doodarshan on Saturday, the survivor, 40-year-old UK national of Indian origin Ramesh Vishwashkumar said he 'jumped out' of the plans seconds after it crashed when he realized there was some space near his seat. He said he couldn't believe he'd made it out of the burning plane alive, even as he saw people dying around him. 'I Can't Believe I Came Out Of It Alive' - Air India Crash Sole Survivor Explains The Moment The Plane Started To Rip Apart & How He Managed His Miraculous EscapeVideo Courtesy: DD News # Families of the victims are still waiting to receive the bodies of their loved ones. A relative of several passengers who are believed to have died in the crash told RT on Friday that he had given his blood for DNA profiling upon arrival in Ahmedabad, but has not yet received any news about the deceased. 'I'm here since yesterday; I gave my blood test. So far there were no bodies of them,' he said. Doctors have been working without breaks to gather dental samples from the deceased to run identification checks and conduct DNA profiling, Hindustan Times reported. The process of handing over bodies has been slow because of the extent of the damage. 'Some of the bodies are charred beyond recognition,' one official told the newspaper. The flight, operated by Air India, had just taken off from Ahmedabad when it lost altitude and crashed into a medical college dormitory. Engine failure and poor visibility have been cited as possible factors, though the exact cause is still under investigation. Authorities from India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation are examining flight data and cockpit recordings retrieved on Friday. Meanwhile, New Delhi's aviation regulator has asked Air India to carry out maintenance on its Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft immediately. These include a review of all take-off parameters and aircraft checks over the last two weeks, according to a notification issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
