KOCHI: Three days after the blast that triggered a major fire on board Singapore flagged container vessel MV Wan Hai 503, the Coast Guard managed to contain the blaze on Wednesday. Sources said the fire is persisting inside the cargo hold and hoped it will be doused completely on Thursday. An Mi helicopter of the Indian Air Force will take off from Kozhikode on Thursday morning with fire retardant dry chemical powder to aid the operations.
Meanwhile, salvage team members along with the Coast Guard landed on the ill-fated ship with the help of a helicopter and tied a towline. Once the fire is doused, the ship will be towed away to deep sea with the help of a tug, said an officer. The vessel carried 1,754 containers and an unspecified number of those have fallen into the sea. With no information on the fate of dangerous cargo, experts said retrieving the containers from the seabed is impossible as the depth is more than 1,000 m.
“In a daring operation...a Coast Guard helicopter managed to winch five members of the salvage team and an aircrew diver on the deck of the burning vessel to facilitate the towing process at 3 pm on Thursday. Rough sea conditions are posing a challenge to the fire fighting operations. Containing the fire and towing the vessel to a safer location remain top priority,” the Coast Guard said in a release.
The Director General (DG) Shipping has released the complete cargo manifest of MV Wan Hai 503, confirming that it carried 1,754 containers of which 1,083 were in the cargo hold under deck and 671 on the deck.
As per the report, 143 containers carried dangerous cargo, including flammable liquids and solids, substances that can emit flammable gases, and toxic substances. Efforts are on to retrieve and identify any containers lost overboard.
“Two Coast Guard vessels are involved in firefighting operations while the other vessels are engaged in border cooling and search for the four missing crew members. The fire on the deck has been contained but dark smoke is billowing from the vessel. There is fire inside the cargo hold,” said an officer.
Five ships, two aircraft and a chopper engaged in firefighting
The ship was carrying 1,22,128 tonnes of fuel. The Coast Guard said the fire poses a significant threat to marine environment and nearby shipping routes.
Five Coast Guard ships, two Dornier aircraft and one helicopter are actively engaged in firefighting, supported by two vessels provided by the Directorate General of Shipping.
Salvors appointed by the vessel’s owner have deployed an expert team to assist the firefighting and salvage efforts.
The DG Shipping has arranged five tugs and support vessels which are en route for firefighting and container recovery.
Tug Saroja Blessing is en route to the spot with an additional 1,000 kg foam firefighting compound.
International firefighting specialists from Spain, the UK and the Netherlands have been identified by the salvors and will be deployed subject to visa clearance, anticipated within the next 48 hours. The vessel is drifting at a speed of 1 knot in southeasterly direction and is located around 65 nautical miles off Beypore coast.
On Wednesday, the investigator appointed by the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore reached Mangaluru and interacted with DG Shipping officials.
A team of officials from the DG Shipping also met the 16 crew members accommodated at a hotel in New Mangaluru. The team will record their statements on Thursday.
143 CONTAINERS WITH DANGEROUS CARGO
Vessel was carrying 1,754 containers
143 of those were carrying dangerous cargo, including flammable liquids and solids
No confirmation yet on number of containers that fell into the sea
Experts say retrieving the containers from the seabed is impossible as the depth is more than 1,000 m