A massive fire broke out on a container cargo merchant vessel about 102 nautical miles southwest of Goa. Two Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ships sailed with dispatch from Goa to augment firefighting efforts.
The Indian Coast Guard said in a statement that the vessel was travelling from Gujarat's Mundra to the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, and was carrying international maritime dangerous goods amid bad weather and heavy rains.
Taking to microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), the Indian Coast Guard said that the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) Mumbai received a distress call from the container carrier MV Maersk Frankfurt 50 NM off Karwar regarding a major fire onboard.
The Coast Guard said that in addition to Ships Sachet, Sujeet, and Samrat, a Dornier aircraft was also pressed into action. ALH and additional aircraft were mobilized to augment search and rescue (SAR) efforts.
The firefighting operations are in progress to avert ecological disasters and ensure the safety of the vessel and crew, the ICG further said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Coast Guard successfully coordinated a search and rescue operation for a stranded Indian fishing boat off the Ponani coast of Kerala, ANI reported.
"During the late hours of July 16, an Indian Coast Guard Dornier aircraft that was on maritime surveillance located and sighted a distressed Indian fishing boat (IFB) along with 11 crew members 50 Nm off Ponani (80 Nm from Kochi). Indian Coast Guard District Headquarters No.4 (Kerala & Mahe) diverted ICGS Saksham, which was on patrol, and successfully coordinated the search and rescue operation for stranded IFB Aashni," ANI quoted Coast Guard as saying.
"The IFB was in distress due to uncontrolled flooding from a hull rupture near the keel and loss of propulsion, resulting in a threat to the safety of the crew. Considering the gravity of the situation and inclement weather conditions, ICG immediately launched an Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) at 0205 hrs from Kochi for the rescue of crew in distress," the statement added.
