Singapore-flagged ship fire: Coastal surveillance stepped up amid efforts to recover containers that fell into sea

Coastal police issue alert for hazardous containers fallen from burning cargo vessel, rescue operations underway with multiple agencies involved.

The Coastal police have issued fresh instructions to fishermen, coastal vigilance committees and local fishermen families along the Malabar coast to be alert against the hazardous containers which fell into the sea from Wan Hai 503, the Singapore-flagged cargo vessel that caught fire nearly 88 nautical miles off the Kerala’s Beypore coast on June 9.

Rescue boats of the Coastal police are carrying out continuous patrol to address the safety concerns and instantly attend to suspicious sightings of any consignments adrift. Along with the Coastal police, the Marine Enforcement squads of the Fisheries department are in action to support the surveillance measures. Fisheries department officials confirmed that the sea patrol is being carried out regularly with the support of a five-member squad.

“We have asked the fishermen who venture out to the seas on country boats and boats fitted with on-board engines during this trawling ban period to be cautious. The biggest relief is that all mechanised boats are back to the shores in the wake of the trawling ban,” said a senior Fisheries department official.

He said instructions had already been passed to all harbour development committees in the northern Kerala region to support the surveillance measures.

According to Indian Coast Guard (ICG) sources, the ship carrying 2,128 metric tons of fuel, hundreds of containers including hazardous cargo, has been posing a significant threat to the marine environment and nearby shipping routes. The fire persisting in the inner decks and areas near the fuel tank continue to be the challenge and efforts are on to douse the fire by Thursday evening, they said.

On Wednesday, an ICG helicopter was able to winch five members of the salvage team and an air crew diver onto the burning vessel to complete the towing process in a challenging situation. It was carried out under difficult circumstances withstanding the adverse weather conditions.

An ICG communication on Thursday also said that towing the vessel to a safer location to avert a potential ecological disaster would be the top priority along with the intensified firefighting measures using dry chemical powder, which would be further supported by the Indian Air Force and the salvors appointed by the vessel’s owner. Five ICG ships, two Dornier aircrafts and one helicopter are now actively engaged in the operation, it said.