Cargo ship catches fire off Kerala coast, 4 missing

A Singapore-flagged container ship on its way to Navi Mumbai caught fire off the coast of Kerala on Monday, the Indian Coast Guard said.

While four of the ship’s 22 crew members were missing, the remaining had been rescued, it added. A search operation was underway to rescue the missing persons.

The 18 members of the crew had reportedly jumped into the sea and used emergency rafts to escape the fire that broke out in the middle portion of the ship MV Wan Hai 503, The Hindu quoted officials of the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority as saying.

The rescued crew was taken to Mangaluru in Karnataka for treatment, OnManorama reported.

The incident took place when the vessel was off the coast of Beypore port, the news outlet reported. The Indian Coast Guard said that the ship was 130 nautical miles north-west of Kochi.

There were reportedly more than 650 containers, including 150 containing hazardous materials, in the cargo vessel, The Hindu reported. Twenty containers had fallen into the sea after several explosions and fire on board.

A container explosion had triggered the fire, OnManorama reported. The ship remained adrift and continued to emit smoke as of Monday night.

Update on #MVWanHai503 Incident.

A major firefighting and rescue operation is underway following a fire onboard #Singapore-flagged container vessel MV Wan Hai 503, 130 NM North -West of #Kochi. @IndiaCoastGuard has mobilized multiple...

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