Padmesh Prabhune –
The fire that broke out on July 19 on the merchant navy ship enroute to Srilanka, off the coast of Goa is under control; however unfortunately one crew member has died in the blaze while trying to douse the fire, while the rest are safe.
In a statement the Indian Coast Guard said the vessel was 17 miles from Karwar, Karnataka. The ICG is keeping the vessel slightly away from the coast and there is no immediate danger to anyone on the ship.
According to reports, the Panama-flagged MV Maersk Frankfurt, with 21 crew on board carrying 1,154 containers, including some with dangerous cargo like benzene and sodium cyanate, had caught fire on July 19, some 102 nautical miles off the coast of Goa while on its way from Mundra in Gujarat to Colombo in Sri Lanka.
The fire is believed to have been caused by a short circuit. “The fire has come down to a controllable level. Since the fire is around the metal containers, it gets reignited. Dry chemical powder that was spread through helicopters on Saturday helped to a large extent in controlling the fire”, ICG Deputy Inspector General Manoj Bhatia said.
While past experience has shown such fires take 3-4 days to be put out completely, and even then the area remains heated, which one needs to keep a watch on, a major disaster was controlled well in time.
“As of now there is no oil pollution, no damage to the ship. It is just basic preparedness that once such a incident happens we have to keep all precautions in place,” he added.
ICG ships Sachet, Sujeet and Samrat were actively engaged in fire-fighting operations. A Coast Guard Dornier aircraft has conducted an aerial assessment of the situation.
Additionally, an advanced light helicopter Dhruv was launched from New Mangalore for Goa, to conduct an assessment of the vessel enroute and evaluate the feasibility of deploying dry chemical powder bags,” the statement said, adding that a specialised pollution control vessel, Samudra Prahari, is being deployed to provide further assistance.
Marex Media