Watch: Cargo Ship On Fire Off Kerala, Coast Guard Sprays Water
Mangaluru:
Eighteen crew members rescued from the blaze-hit Singapore-flagged container ship were safely brought to the New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA) Coast Guard berth at Panambur by Indian Naval Ship INS Surat.
Among the rescued, two are said to be in critical condition, while four sustained minor injuries and 12 others suffered varying levels of trauma.
The injured were evacuated and transported to AJ Hospital in Kuntikana here late on Monday night.
'The critically injured were stabilised onboard INS Surat, and shifted on arrival under close medical supervision. Immediate evacuation was our priority,' a Coast Guard official told reporters.
He added that immigration, port, and police authorities worked in unison to ensure a seamless handover and medical transfer.
The ship MV Wan Hai 503, which caught fire on Sunday in the Arabian Sea off Kerala coast, had 22 crew members on board. While 18 have now been rescued, four remain unaccounted for. Search and rescue operations are ongoing.
Port workers described emotional scenes as the injured disembarked — some helped by fellow crewmates, others in stretchers, whispering prayers of gratitude or anxiously inquiring about their missing colleagues.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Blaze, explosions continue on cargo vessel; oil advisory issued
Hectic efforts to douse the fire on the Singapore-flagged cargo ship containing hazardous and flammable cargo off the coast of Kerala continued for a second day on Tuesday, with experts warning of drifting containers and a potential oil spill. The vessel — Wan Hai 503 — was sailing from Colombo to Nhava Sheva port in Mumbai when an explosion in one of its containers sparking a fire on Monday, when it was around 70 nautical miles off Kozhikode. The Navy and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) rescued 18 of the 22 members while four remained missing. Another official said that among the 18 rescued, two are said to be in critical condition, while four have minor injuries. Twelve others suffered varying levels of trauma. The injured were evacuated and transported to AJ Hospital in Kuntikana late on Monday night. The vessel continues to be adrift. 'The blaze reported on the cargo vessel Wan Hai 503 is continuing, though its intensity has reduced in the last few hours. The fire in the section from mid-ship to the container bay ahead of the accommodation block is continuing. At the same time, the fire in the forward bay section of the vessel is under control. Three vessels of the ICG — Samudra Prahari, Sachet and Samarth — are engaged in dousing the fire and will continue through the night,' a defence official in Kochi said on condition of anonymity. The official added: 'The ship has tilted 15 degrees to one side and remains in stable equilibrium for now.' The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has warned of drifting containers and a possible oil spill. The agency activated its Search and Rescue Aid Tool (SARAT) to track possible drift patterns of containers and oil and assessed that there was 70-80% chance of such containers drifting south-southeastwards in the next three days. 'Simulations show that the containers are likely to continue to drift in the ocean for the next three days and might take longer to reach the beach. However, caution is advised about a few containers beaching between Kozhikode and Kochi. The situation is closely monitored and updated drift directions will be provided,' INCOIS said in a statement. A cargo manifest handed over to the Kerala government by the shipping authorities and seen by HT confirmed that at least 157 containers were filled with four classes of dangerous goods, including flammable liquids and solids, toxic chemicals, pesticides, polymeric beads (plastic) and hydrazine. Defence officials have confirmed that several containers have fallen into the sea over the past couple of days during the fire. INCOIS ran its Oil Spill Trajectory System, which models the movement of a hypothetical 100-ton bunker oil spill from the vessel. Though the exact quantity of any spillage is still unknown, forecast simulations suggest the oil would drift parallel to the coastline from June 10 through June 13, with continuous monitoring underway. AM Riyas, an experienced merchant navy captain, said the priority right now was to ensure that the ship doesn't sink. 'From what we can understand, over the last few hours, the rescue ships of the ICG have been able to come near the burning ship. If the ship goes down in the sea, there will be two types of impact -- the pollution from the dangerous goods which will affect the marine ecosystem and the pollution from possible leakage of marine diesel and furnace oil. The furnace oil is just like tar and can have massive adverse effects. So all the officials need to ensure that the ship doesn't go down,' Riyas told local media. Anu Gopinath, professor and head of department of aquatic environment management at Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS), pointed out the high possibility of leakage of chemicals from the cargo containers into the sea and the impact it would have on the marine wealth. 'Since the ship is in a completely burnt state and the containers likely to have burst open, there is a high chance of the chemicals leaking into the sea. There are a lot of environmentally hazardous substances like polymeric beads, styrene (plastic), specific pesticides in liquid form and a variety of chemical compounds. The chemicals are basically organic solvents and will have a big choking effect on the fish community. Since it's currently breeding season, the leakage of chemicals will affect juvenile fish and in the long-term enter the human food chain,' said Gopinath. 'The impact of the Singapore ship fire on the marine ecosystem will no doubt be massive, much more than the MSC ELSA 3 incident,' she said. Two of the six ship crew, who were hospitalised, are currently battling critical burns in Mangaluru. Dinesh Kadam, a plastic surgeon at AJ hospital, said, 'We received six patients, all of whom have burns. But the condition of two of them are critical. One person has 30% burns and the other 40% burns. Mainly, they have airway or respiratory burns which are severe in nature. They have breathing problems, and we are giving them all the critical care and attention.'
India Gazette
an hour ago
- India Gazette
Indian Coast Guard working to combat fire on Singapore-flagged container ship
Kochi (Kerala) [India], June 11 (ANI): The Indian Coast Guard is continuously working to combat the fire that engulfed the Singapore-flagged container ship MV Wan Hai 503. It said attempts were being made to control the vessel fire that injured several crew members. Of the 22 crew members, 18 were rescued by the Indian Navy, while four are still missing. According to the Indian Coast Guard, as of 5:00 PM on Tuesday, the flames on the container ship were reduced, as thick smoke continued to emanate. 'Indian Coast Guard ships continue to fight the fire and attempt to bring the inferno on the container ship MV WAN HAI 503 under control off Kerala coast. Visible flames have reduced, and thick smoke continues to emanate as of 1700 hours today,' the Indian Coast Guard said. Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in India spokesperson Yu Jing on Tuesday expressed gratitude to the Indian Navy and the Mumbai Coast Guard for their prompt and professional rescue of its crew members onboard the Singapore-flagged container ship MV Wan Hai 503, which encountered an onboard explosion and fire 44 nautical miles off Kerala's Azhikkal. According to Yu Jing, Chinese and Taiwanese crew members were among those onboard MV Wan Hai. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson wished for successful search operations and speedy recovery for injured 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 and professional rescue. We wish further search operations successful and the injured crew members speedy recovery,' Yu Jing posted on X. Four crew members were reported missing and five injured after an explosion under deck was reported onboard MV WAN HAI 503 while it was on passage from Colombo to Nhava Sheva. Indian Coast Guard ships have been deployed for firefighting and rescue operations. According to the Indian Coast Guard, four crew members were reported missing following the explosion on Monday, and five others sustained injuries. The vessel was carrying containerised cargo and had a total crew of 22 onboard. CGDO on task was diverted for assessment. Of the 18 rescued crew members of the Singapore-flagged MV Wan Hai 503, six were brought to the AJ Hospital for medical treatment post-midnight on Tuesday. Dinesh Kadam, Plastic Surgeon at AJ Hospital, said that two rescuees had critical injuries with 35 to 40 per cent burns. The Indian Naval Ship (INS) Surat, carrying the rescued crew members who sustained injuries in the vessel fire, had arrived at the New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA), Panambur. According to Plastic Surgeon Kadam, the six rescuees are from multiple nationalities, including Chinese and Indonesian. Of the six rescued crew members, two have suffered critical injuries. 'We have received six patients. All of them have burns. Three are Chinese nationals, two are from Burma (Myanmar), and one is from Indonesia. Two are critically injured with 35-40 per cent burns. Mainly, they have airway burns, that is, respiratory burns, which are much more severe. They have breathing problems. We have to monitor closely over a few days and see how they do. Right now, we're giving all the attention and critical care,' Kadam told reporters here. According to the Indian Navy, the vessel carried 22 crew members, including eight Chinese, six Taiwanese, five Myanmarese, and three Indonesian nationals. Following the explosion and escalation of the fire, the crew abandoned the ship. The MV reported an internal container explosion and a major fire onboard. The vessel was en route from Colombo, Sri Lanka, to Nhava Sheva, Mumbai, and its expected arrival time (ETA) was June 10. 'The Flag Administration of Singapore has been formally notified. The Directorate General of Shipping (DGS), India, has instructed the ship's owners to immediately engage qualified salvors and firefighting experts,' the release stated. (ANI)
Indian Express
4 hours ago
- Indian Express
Overlooking own concerns in past, forest committee clears Arunachal hydel project
In a move that aligns with the Centre's push to fast-track hydropower projects in the North-East, the Environment Ministry's Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has granted in-principle forest clearance to the 3,097-MW Etalin hydel project, which involves diversion of 1,175 hectares of forest land and felling of around 2.78 lakh trees in Arunachal Pradesh's Dibang Valley and has long been at the centre of protests. The Etalin project is among the largest proposed hydropower projects in India in terms of generation capacity. The approval comes despite the same FAC raising biodiversity and wildlife concerns in 2022, when it had rejected the proposal and directed the state to conduct fresh biodiversity and cumulative impact assessments for the Dibang river basin. This time, however, the FAC granted approval based on existing studies, overlooking its own recommendations made in December 2022. The project will be a run-of-the-river one, which does not involve storage, and is proposed to be constructed on Dri river and Talo river, the local name for Dibang, in the state's biodiverse Dibang valley. The appraisal of the project has been underway since 2014 and the FAC had discussed it six times between 2015 and 2022. The FAC noted the past deliberations held with the state government, regional office of the Environment Ministry and said it had examined ecological, social and economic aspects and issues related to wildlife as well as the project's cumulative impact. It said that the submissions made by the state forest department on these concerns were found satisfactory and hence, it recommended grant of in-principle approval, subject to general, standard and specific conditions. The forest area of over 1,000 hectares required for the project is mostly community forest, and it has faced continued resistance from the Idu Mishmi community. The area is home to tigers, leopards, snow leopards, black bears, alpine musk deer, Mishmi takin, and about 680 bird species. The FAC had rejected the project in December 2022 primarily on two grounds. One, the project was originally submitted in 2014 and FAC said it was imperative to review the facts and figures presented, especially regarding tree felling. Secondly, owing to the biodiversity and wildlife protection concerns raised, a sub-committee of the FAC had recommended further assessments and safeguards. This included a multi-seasonal replicate biodiversity study, as was already directed by FAC in 2017, and a cumulative impact assessment, since multiple hydroelectric projects are planned in Dibang valley. A wildlife conservation plan, instead of a multi-season biodiversity study, was carried out by the Wildlife Institute of India and submitted in 2019. However, since it was carried out over just four months, the FAC sub-committee had insisted on the multiple-season study again in December 2022. The WII study was also heavily panned by 29 independent Indian conservationists in a peer-reviewed paper for inaccurate wildlife documentation, scientific deficiencies among other things. Specifically, the WII study had reported a species of African bat and long-tailed house bat, not found in India. Minutes of the FAC's May 26 meeting as well as documents submitted to the Centre show that the FAC relied on the existing WII study, as well as the existing cumulative impact assessment. Senior officials of the Environment Ministry, who are part of the FAC, did not respond to queries regarding the rationale behind recommending forest approval, in the absence of fresh studies. An award-winning journalist with 14 years of experience, Nikhil Ghanekar is an Assistant Editor with the National Bureau [Government] of The Indian Express in New Delhi. He primarily covers environmental policy matters which involve tracking key decisions and inner workings of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He also covers the functioning of the National Green Tribunal and writes on the impact of environmental policies on wildlife conservation, forestry issues and climate change. Nikhil joined The Indian Express in 2024. Originally from Mumbai, he has worked in publications such as Tehelka, Hindustan Times, DNA Newspaper, News18 and Indiaspend. In the past 14 years, he has written on a range of subjects such as sports, current affairs, civic issues, city centric environment news, central government policies and politics. ... Read More
