The adverse weather restricted aerial operations and delayed the embarkation of salvage team members onto the vessel. Despite these challenges, around 1700 hrs on 13 June, a Navy Sea King helicopter successfully launched from Kochi with the salvage team and winched them onboard the distressed vessel under extremely difficult conditions.Subsequently, a 600-metre tow rope was connected to the ocean-going tug approximately 20 nautical miles off Kochi. This crucial joint operation involving the Indian Coast Guard, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force enabled the salvors to take over the vessel from the ICG and continue the firefighting and salvage work. The vessel is currently being towed westward at a speed of approximately 1.8 knots and is now nearly 35 nautical miles off the coast.At the time of this report, only thick smoke and a few remaining hotspots are visible onboard Wan Hai 503 – a testament to the effective and sustained firefighting operations carried out by the ICG, which helped prevent a potential environmental disaster.The incident took place on Monday, 9 JuneA major fire broke out onboard the Singapore-flagged container vessel MV Wan Hai 503 following a container explosion. The incident occurred at approximately 0920 hrs IST on 9 June 2025, around 44 nautical miles off Azhikkal, Kerala and 130 nautical miles northwest of Kochi.The fire rapidly engulfed the midsection of the vessel, which is currently adrift. Preliminary reports suggest that 10–15 containers have fallen overboard.The vessel was en route from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Nhava Sheva, Mumbai, with an expected time of arrival (ETA) on 10 June 2025. Carrying 2,128 metric tonnes of fuel and hundreds of containers, including hazardous cargo, the vessel poses a significant threat to the marine environment and nearby shipping routes.The vessel had 22 crew members onboard, including 8 Chinese, 6 Taiwanese, 5 Myanmarese, and 3 Indonesian nationals. Following the explosion and escalation of the fire, the crew abandoned the ship.
Source link
