(Photo courtesy: ilatimes.com)
NEW DELHI: Twenty-two crewmembers evacuated from a Singapore-flagged cargo ship that caught fire in the Arabian Sea earlier this week have reached India, a shipping company official said Friday.
Palle Laursen, chief technical officer from Maersk, said hopes were fading for finding four missing crewmembers.
The rescue operation was continuing with an Indian Coast Guard vessel on the site near Agatti Island, about 650 nautical miles (1,203 kilometers) from Kochi, an Indian coastal city.
Two specialized firefighting vessels arrived on location on Friday and joined the effort.
Laursen said the rescued crewmembers were taken to the southern Indian cities of Kochi and Trivandrum and received medical treatment and crisis counselling. A majority of them have been transferred to hotels.
"The search continues to locate the four crew members still missing after the fire aboard Maersk Honam that began on Tuesday, although hopes of finding them are fading," he said in a statement posted Friday on the web site of Maersk Line.
An investigation into the cause of the fire is planned. The blaze was reported from the cargo hold of the vessel.
Background
One of the 23 crewmembers evacuated from a Singapore-flagged cargo ship that caught fire in the Arabian Sea has died of severe burns, a shipping line official said Thursday.
The chief operating officer of A.P. Moller-Maersk, Soren Toft, said the Thai national passed away after his condition deteriorated drastically.
The fire onboard the Maersk Honam continues and the situation of the vessel is very critical, Toft said in a statement on the company's website.
He said a search was continuing for four crewmembers who were still missing.
"We are doing our outmost in this tragic situation to care for all evacuated colleagues and continue the intense search and rescue operations ongoing for the four crew members currently reported missing," he said.
He said 22 rescued crewmembers were being taken to Sri Lanka on a rescue vessel.
The nationalities of the 27 crew members are: India (13), the Philippines (nine), Romania (one), South Africa (one), Thailand (two) and the United Kingdom (one).
Sailing from Singapore toward Suez, the vessel is currently about 900 nautical miles (1,670 kilometers) southeast of Salalah, Oman, the statement said.
The cause of the fire is not known. It was reported from one of the cargo holds, the statement said.
Four people are missing after "a serious fire" erupted on a Singapore-flagged cargo ship in the Arabian Sea belonging to the shipping branch of the Danish group A.P. Moller-Maersk, authorities said Wednesday.
Maersk Line says the fire broke out late Tuesday on Maersk Honam and firefighter efforts were "unsuccessful."
"The crew sent out a distress signal and a total of 23 crew members were safely evacuated to the nearby vessel ALS Ceres," the shipper said in an earlier statement.
Maersk Line says the fire is still burning and "the situation of the vessel is very critical."
The shipper initially described the vessel as being about 1,000 miles off the coast of Oman. The Indian Coast Guard put the ship near the Agatti Island, some 650 nautical miles from the port city of Kochi in India.
The Press Trust of India news agency said one of the missing sailors was Indian and that authorities believe the fire started in one of the many shipping containers on board the vessel.
The cause of the blaze is still unknown. Denmark's TV2 said the ship was transporting "dangerous cargo" without giving further details.
"Two crew members (were) currently receiving medical first aid onboard the ALS Ceres," said Toft, adding Maersk will offer the families of missing crew members "all the support we can in this very difficult situation."
The nationalities of the 27 crew members on the Singapore-flagged Maersk Honam include 13 from India, nine from the Philippines, two from Thailand, and one from Romania, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
The vessel, built in 2017, is carrying 7860 containers. The Maersk Honam has a nominal capacity of 15262 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit).
The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In September, another cargo ship loaded with construction material sank off the Omani coast, though all 20 sailors abroad the vessel survived.
