Kochi: A Singapore-flagged container ship carrying dangerous cargo including flammable solids, liquids and toxic substances, caught fire off the coast of Kerala on Monday, a Defence PRO said.
Of the 22 crew members on board the ship, MV Wan Hai 503, 18 abandoned the vessel and were being rescued by Indian Navy and Coast Guard assets, he said.
"Vessel is presently on fire and adrift," he said. Defence sources said the Indian Coast Guard ships Sachet, Arnvesh, Samudra Prahari, Abhinav, Rajdoot, and C-144 were involved in the ongoing rescue operation.
Officials had earlier said an explosion was reported from the ship but later clarified it was a fire. The underdeck fire was first intimated at around 10.30 am by the Maritime Operations Centre in Mumbai to their counterparts in Kochi. The 270-metre-long vessel was en route to Mumbai.
"On 09 Jun 25, at about 1030 h, MOC (Koc) received a piece of information from MOC (Mbi) about a reported underdeck fire onboard MV Wan Hai 503. The vessel is a Singapore-flagged container ship, 270 m long and draught of 12.5m, with LPC Colombo. The vessel departed Colombo on 07 Jun 25 with NPC Mumbai, 10 Jun," the communication from the PRO read.
🚨 On 09 Jun 25, fire incident reported onboard Singapore-flagged container vessel MV Wan Hai 503 , 78 NM off #Beypore.⁰🔹 @indiannavy diverted INS Surat & planned DO sortie from #INSGaruda.⁰🔹 @IndiaCoastGuard deployed multiple assets including CG Dornier for rescue &… pic.twitter.com/rf7n6gfLA6
— PRO Defence Kochi (@DefencePROkochi) June 9, 2025
He said that in response, the Indian Navy diverted INS Surat, which had been scheduled to dock in Kochi, to provide immediate assistance. The Western Naval Command redirected the vessel at 11 am, the PRO added.
Dangerous cargo on fire-hit ship
The containers on the Singapore-flagged ship contain dangerous cargo, including flammable solids, liquids and toxic substances, a top officer at Azhikkal Port said.
"The containers in the ship have dangerous cargo, including Class 3 (flammable liquids), Class 4.1 (flammable solids), Class 4.2 (spontaneously combustible substances) and Class 4.6 (toxic substances)," he said.
As the nearest Coast Guard facilitation centre is Beypore in nearby Kozhikode district, it is expected that the rescued crew members of the vessel would be taken there, Captain Arun Kumar P K, port officer, Azhikkal Port, said. As per the update received so far, none of the 22 crew members were Indians, and they are from countries like China, Indonesia, Thailand and so on.
Meanwhile, Beypore port officials said it is yet to be confirmed whether the crew members would be brought there. A Navy Dornier aircraft sortie is also being planned from the naval air station INS Garuda in Kochi to assess the situation and coordinate support.
