Fire on hazardous cargo ship contained

No people were hurt and the crew were rescued soon after the fire broke out at around 5pm on Sunday afternoon near Mumbai, India, but coast guard officials have confirmed that 24 containers out of the 112 on board the vessel contain 45 tonnes of dangerous cargo, Indian news agency NDTV reported.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known but it seems the fire started somewhere near the engine room, although spread to amidships by mid-evening. So far, no oil spill has been witnessed though the ship’s fuel tanks contain some 2,600 tonnes of heavy fuel oil.

Two coast guard ships, Samudra Prahari and Subhadra Kumari Chouhan went into action immediately but needed extra help to contain the fire so the ICGS Sankalp and ICGS Sangram were called to assist along with another emergency towing vehicle.

The vessel, which is owned by Japan-based K-Line was en route to Colombo port in Sri Lanka from Jawaharlal Nehru Port, near Mumbai, in India.