Singapore-flagged ship catches fire off Kerala coast, Indian Navy, Coast Guard rush to rescue

Singapore-flagged container vessel MV Wan Hai 503 caught fire 78 nautical miles off the coast of Beypore in Kerala on Monday (June 9). Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy’s assets have been deployed to aid the ship.

In a post on social media, the Defence Public Relations Office (PRO) in Kochi said that in response to the report of the fire onboard MV Wan Hai 503, the Indian Navy had diverted INS Surat and planned a DO sortie from INS Garuda.
The Indian Coast Guard, on the other hand, deployed a CG Dornier aircraft among other assets for rescue & assessment.

Further updates by the Defence PRO mentioned that five Coast Guard ships– Sachet, Arnvesh, Samudra Prahari, Abhinav, and Rajdoot– were involved in the rescue mission. A C144 aircraft was also included in the list of assets deployed.

The presence of Samudra Prahari, which specialises in pollution control and containing oil spills, suggests that preparedness is being ensured in case of a discharge from the ship. The vessel was still on fire and adrift at 2 pm.

Of the 22 crew members onboard MV Wan Haai 503, 18 have abandoned the ship on boat and are being rescued by ICG and Indian Navy. The cause of the fire is not known yet. No casualties have been reported so far.

More to come