CNN
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The Indian coast guard is fighting massive flames on a vessel that threatens to sink around 15 voyages off the Kerala coast as searches continue for the four missing crew members.
According to Indian Coast Guard Commander Amit Uniyal, the image shows an increase in diesel smoke rising from Singapore’s inflamed MV wan hai 503.
More than 24 hours after the Indian coast guard responded to the call of pain, the explosion was still heard on Tuesday. At about 9:30am local time, the ship’s crew reported a fire caused by the explosion, Uniyal said, but it is not clear what caused the explosion.
According to Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority, 18 sailors were rescued from the ship attacked by “injury.” The four crew members remain missing.
MV Wan Hai 503 is being managed by Wan Hai Lines (Singapore) Pte Ltd, according to the Port Authority, which said it would investigate the incident. CNN reached out to the company for comment.
The 269m (890ft) ship was scheduled to leave Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 7th and arrive in Mumbai, India on Monday.
Uniyal told CNN on Tuesday that the Coast Guard was “doing its best” to control the flames, but the situation was getting worse. “I don’t know if the ship will sink or not,” Uniyal said. “More containers are on fire.”
According to official social media accounts, five Indian Coast Guard vessels were fighting the fire on Tuesday, reporting that “an explosion leads from the midship vessel to Container Bay in front of the accommodation block.”
Images posted by the Indian Coast Guard show flames, black smoke and burnt containers. Environmental observation vessels monitor their efforts, but the scale of the impact is still unknown.
The incident marks the second serious shipping incident from Kerala in less than a month after the sinking of MSC ELSA 3 in the Liberian formation on May 25th.
The ship fell in over 600 containers, including 13, including “dangerous cargo,” according to the Kerera government, which launched an environmental emergency and directed fishermen to work in the area.
The Indian Maritime Bureau Director said the 61 containers washed on land from MSC ELSA 3 did not contain any dangerous cargo and 51 had not been removed from the coastline as of June 9th.
Underwater operations have been launched to hold down the oil tanks on the sunken ship and ultimately save the fuel, the office wrote in a statement.
