NEW DELHI: India’s Coast Guard and Navy were struggling on Tuesday to extinguish a fire on a Singapore-flagged cargo ship that exploded in the Arabian Sea, triggering an alarm over its load of 100 tonnes of bunker oil. The MV Wan Hai 503, en route to Mumbai from Sri Lanka, reported an internal container explosion on Monday, which triggered a major fire on board as the vessel approached the coast of the southern state of Kerala. The Indian Coast Guard said the situation was “critical” as its ships engaged in an overnight operation to douse the flames and rescue 22 members of the vessel’s crew.

“Alcuni feriti” tra l’equipaggio e 4 dispersi

The container ship en route from Colombo to Mumbai, caught fire on June 9 approximately 78 nautical miles off the Beypore coast, Kerala.