Singapore vessel on fire towed further out to sea as firefighting continues

Amidst the
firefighting operation
aboard the Singapore-flagged cargo ship, which caught fire earlier this week off the
Kerala coast
en route to Mumbai from Colombo, it was towed farther away from the coastline on Saturday morning, defence sources said.
The vessel --
MV Wan Hai 503
-- has been towed 40 nautical miles away from land. Earlier, the ship was 27 nautical miles from land, they said.
According to a defence statement, the towing operation was initiated with a Seaking helicopter from the
Southern Naval Command
winching down salvors to shift the tow cables from the
Indian Coast Guard
(ICG) ships to the tug vessels.
"The towing operations have commenced. Due to heavy weather, towing speed is restricted to 1.5 knots," it said.
"ICG Ships Saksham, Samarth, Vikram, and IN Ship Sharda, OSV Triton Liberty are escorting the towing vessels. Towing is being undertaken by Tug Offshore Warrior, Garnett and Water Lily," a defence statement, on social media platform X, said.
Live Events
"Fire fighting operation continues," it added.
The Singapore-flagged vessel had caught fire after one of the containers aboard it exploded.
On Thursday, the Directorate General of Shipping had said that 40 per cent of the fire had been brought under control.
Of the 22 crew members on board the vessel, 18 were rescued while four remain missing.
Economic Times WhatsApp channel
)

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Business Standard

4 hours ago

• Business Standard

Kerala's fishing economy reels from back-to-back maritime disasters

Kerala's coastal communities are on edge after two major maritime accidents in the Arabian Sea within a short span, threatening not only fragile marine ecosystems but also the livelihoods of thousands who depend on them. The back-to-back incidents—first involving the MSC Elsa 3, followed by a fire aboard MV Wan Hai 503—have triggered bans on fishing, fears of contamination, and disruptions to the state's marine economy. According to Kerala Fisheries Statistics 2021, over one million people in the state depend directly or indirectly on fisheries, including more than 2.4 lakh active fishermen across 222 marine fishing villages. When did the incidents occur? The MSC ELSA-3, a Liberian-flagged container ship carrying 640 containers (including hazardous materials like calcium carbide), capsized and sank on May 25, about 38 nautical miles southwest of Kochi, off Kerala's coast. The MV Wan Hai 503, a Singapore-flagged container vessel, caught fire on June 9, roughly 78 nautical miles off Beypore, Kerala, following an under-deck explosion. After the MSC Elsa 3 shipwreck, authorities imposed an eight-day fishing ban within a 20-nautical-mile radius of the wreck site. The timing could not have been worse—it coincided with the onset of the monsoon season, typically a peak period for fish catch. In 2020-21, Kerala produced 6.15 lakh tonnes of fish and prawns, highlighting the scale of economic activity now at risk. The government's interim relief included ₹1,000 and 6 kg of rice per family, a measure many in the fishing community criticised as inadequate. 'June to September is when we earn the most. This amount doesn't even cover two days of work,' said a fisherman from the Alappuzha-Kollam region, highlighting how compensation fell below the daily minimum wage. Meanwhile, ongoing efforts to remove marine sediments from affected coastlines in Alappuzha, Kollam, and parts of Thiruvananthapuram have made uneven progress. Although communities have resumed fishing in some areas, fears of contamination persist. Environmental fears mount Experts say that while no mass fish deaths have been reported so far, the real danger may lie in delayed ecological impacts. 'If the water is not treated and sediments are not properly removed, this could lead to long-term consequences,' said a local fishing union representative. 'It's not just our community—this could affect people inland too, through the food chain and market supply.' Kollam, which usually lands around 35,000 tonnes of fish daily, has seen a steep drop in supply and demand alike. Several fish markets have reported little or no demand for days, as people are worried about possible contamination from hazardous cargo and oil spills. This has led to a direct loss of income for thousands of families who depend on fishing. According to Dr Sajeevan, professor at Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS), misinformation about contamination is already hurting fish sales. Many regular fish eaters are switching to alternatives like meat or avoiding fish from affected areas altogether, he said. Scientific teams deployed to assess impact The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has deployed teams to assess environmental and economic fallout. The Kerala State Pollution Control Board and the National Institute of Oceanography are also expected to conduct studies on water quality and ecological recovery. 'Proper scientific monitoring and treatment are essential to contain long-term damage,' Dr Sajeevan added. 'We may not be seeing marine organism deaths now, but that doesn't rule out contamination. The impact on spawning, migration, and species diversity could emerge over time.' The way forward While cleanup operations are underway, fishers and environmentalists alike are demanding stricter regulation of maritime traffic near coastal zones and faster relief mechanisms. Experts are also calling for a contingency plan to protect coastal economies from future maritime mishaps. 'The government must establish a coordinated response framework that includes emergency cleanup, livelihood protection, and scientific risk assessments,' said a CMFRI official. 'Kerala's marine economy cannot afford repeated shocks.' For now, coastal families wait anxiously—not just for fish to return to their nets, but for assurance that their waters, and their futures, remain safe.

Scroll.in

a day ago

• Scroll.in

Second ship sinking off Kerala coast revives fears in Sri lanka of worst maritime disaster

Sri Lanka is once again facing a significant marine environmental crisis, as tiny plastic pellets, commonly known as nurdles, have begun washing ashore along the island's northern coastline. This time, the pollution is linked to the sinking of the Liberia-flagged container ship MSC ELSA 3 off of Kerala, India. The unfolding incident has triggered fears of a repeat of the X-Press Pearl disaster in 2021, the worst maritime disaster to have occurred in Sri Lanka, significantly impacting marine ecosystems and coastal communities. According to the Indian Coast Guard, the MSC ELSA 3, carrying 640 containers including hazardous cargo, sank on May 25, roughly 38 nautical miles off the Kerala coast. The cause was reportedly a failure of its ballast system. Indian authorities confirmed the vessel was loaded with an estimated 85 metric tonnes of diesel and 367 metric tonnes of furnace oil, in addition to at least 13 containers of dangerous substances such as calcium carbide. All 24 crew members were safely rescued by Indian Coast Guard and Navy teams. While Indian authorities were able to initially contain an oil spill, the environmental fallout soon escalated. Plastic nurdles released from sunken containers began appearing on beaches in southern India, and by June 11, ocean currents driven by strong gusts of southwest monsoon winds carried them toward Sri Lanka's northern shores, raising serious concerns among marine biologists and local communities. Fresh environmental fallout 'We've begun cleaning efforts and are evaluating coordinated response actions,' said Padma Abeykoon, additional secretary at the Ministry of Environment. With strong monsoon winds forecast for the coming days, she noted that ocean currents may bring even more pollutants ashore. According to Abeykoon, Indian authorities had alerted Sri Lanka about the possibility of debris from the sunken vessel drifting toward its shores, depending on ocean current patterns. The plastic pellets first arrived on the northern islands and reached the Mannar coast within a day, continuously washing up along Sri Lanka's southern-facing beaches. One of the earliest reports from Sri Lanka came from Lahiru Walpita, a birdwatcher in Mannar, who observed the nurdles during his routine early morning seabird monitoring. 'On June 12, I noticed strange white pebbles scattered across the Mannar beach. A closer look revealed they were plastic nurdles, something I sadly recognise from the X-Press Pearl spill,' Walpita said. Walpita initially assumed the rough seas had opened up a remnant of X-Press Pearl, but as he discovered 20 25-kg bags of nurdles strewn across a 2-km stretch of the beach in Mannar, he realised something was wrong. Out of these, only two bags were damaged, and others were in perfect shape, Walpita told Mongabay. Walpita also observed crows and an egret investigating the pellets but hadn't consumed them. 'However, seabirds, like little terns and bridled terns, feed off the ocean surface while in flight and I fear they could mistake these pellets for food as they have little time to observe,' he warned. The breeding season for these species, especially on tiny islands nearby in Adam's Bridge Marine National Park, runs from May to September, and Walpita fears the nurdle invasion could disrupt their reproductive cycles. Temporary ban Meanwhile, Indian authorities imposed a temporary fishing ban within 20 nautical miles of the MSC ELSA 3 wreck to mitigate risks from hazardous cargo. One of the most concerning chemicals on board was calcium carbide, which reacts violently with water to release acetylene – a highly flammable and potentially explosive gas – and produces caustic substances harmful to marine life. 'The ship sank about 300 nautical miles from Sri Lanka, so we don't anticipate immediate chemical contamination threat for Sri Lankan waters,' said Jagath Gunasekara, general manager of Sri Lanka's Marine Environment Protection Authority. 'However, we are conducting continuous water quality tests and have activated the National Oil and Hazardous Noxious Substances Spill Contingency Plan to remain prepared,' he added. Adding to the urgency, Indian authorities are battling another maritime emergency just two weeks after the ELSA 3 incident. On June 7, the Singapore-flagged container ship MV Wan Hai 503 caught fire following multiple explosions, approximately 88 nautical miles off the coast of Kerala. The vessel, carrying more than 2,128 metric tonnes of fuel and numerous containers with hazardous materials, poses a potentially greater environmental risk than ELSA 3. As of June 18, Indian Coast Guard reports indicated that the fire was under control. The drifting vessel has since been secured and successfully towed away. Nurdle spill The nurdles are highly persistent in the marine environment, as they can absorb toxic chemicals and enter the food chain, posing a risk to marine life and potentially humans as research on the aftermath of X-Press Pearl disaster proves. The parallels of these disasters with the X-Press Pearl disaster are striking. The 2021 incident released billions of nurdles into the Indian Ocean, contaminating beaches for months, killing marine organisms and disrupting fishing livelihoods. One silver lining is that a lot of research was conducted following the X-Press Pearl disaster, and this can be informative in tackling the ongoing episode of the nurdle pollution, Gunasekara said. Even today, Sri Lanka is fighting for adequate compensation, with legal proceedings dragging on in international courts. The echoes of that catastrophe now serve as a grim warning: unless stronger regional protocols and maritime safety measures are enforced, the region could be doomed to repeat history.

United News of India

a day ago

• United News of India

Indian Coast Guard marks IDY with ‘Yoga Sangam'

New Delhi, June 21 (UNI) The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) marked the 11th International Day of Yoga (IDY) on Saturday under its flagship 'Yoga Sangam,' with participation from over 60 locations across India's coastline in the Northwest, Western, Eastern, Southern, and island territories. From the bustling bases on the Western Seaboard, including Mumbai, Goa, Karwar, and Mangalore, to the Eastern Seaboard in Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradeep, and Haldia, the spirit of yoga was visible across its units. The Southern Region, including Mandapam and Kochi, as well as island locations like Port Blair, also reported high levels of engagement. The main event, however, took place at the ICG Complex in Noida (Delhi NCR), where Director General of the Indian Coast Guard, Paramesh Sivamani, addressed over 1,000 attendees, said a statement from the ICG here. During his address, Director General Sivamani emphasised the vital role of yoga in enhancing mental clarity, stress management, and physical resilience—qualities that are essential for ICG personnel working in high-pressure maritime environments. "The practice of yoga is integral to maintaining the physical and mental strength required for the demanding maritime duties our personnel undertake," said Director General Sivamani. "By adopting yoga in our daily routines, we aim to enhance the well-being of our teams, fostering both individual and collective strength." The yoga session was led by renowned instructor Vandana Gupta, along with a team of six expert yoga instructors. Together, they guided participants through a range of asanas, pranayama, and meditation practices designed to cater to both beginners and experienced practitioners. Special attention was given to creating routines that can seamlessly integrate into the hectic schedules of ICG personnel, the statement added.