Amidst the firefighting operation aboard the Singapore-flagged cargo ship, which caught hearth earlier this week off the Kerala coast en path to Mumbai from Colombo, it was towed farther away from the shoreline on Saturday morning, defence sources stated.
The vessel — MV Wan Hai 503 — has been towed 40 nautical miles away from land. Earlier, the ship was 27 nautical miles from land, they stated.
In line with a defence assertion, the towing operation was initiated with a Seaking helicopter from the Southern Naval Command winching down salvors to shift the tow cables from the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ships to the tug vessels.
“The towing operations have commenced. On account of heavy climate, towing pace is restricted to 1.5 knots,” it stated.
“ICG Ships Saksham, Samarth, Vikram, and IN Ship Sharda, OSV Triton Liberty are escorting the towing vessels.
Towing is being undertaken by Tug Offshore Warrior, Garnett and Water Lily,” a defence assertion, on social media platform X, stated.
“Fireplace preventing operation continues,” it added.
The Singapore-flagged vessel had caught hearth after one of many containers aboard it exploded.
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On Thursday, the Directorate Basic of Delivery had stated that 40 per cent of the fireplace had been introduced beneath management.
Of the 22 crew members on board the vessel, 18 have been rescued whereas 4 stay lacking.