Search Continues For 4 Missing Crew Members on Maersk Cargo Ship

The Indian Coastguard, which rushed to aid the crew, has rescued 23 members so far but four are still missing.

Latest visual of Maersk Container Ship, with 27 crew members on board that caught fire following an explosion at sea at 340 nautical miles from Agatti in Lakshwadeep Islands on 6 March.

(Photo: ANI)

A container vessel – with 27 people on board, including 13 Indians – bearing a Singapore flag caught fire in the Arabian Sea near Lakshadweep Islands on the night of 6 March, and the fire has not yet been doused, PTI reported.

Merchant ships directed by the Indian Coast Guard MRCC Centre, Mumbai, picked up 23 survivors the next day. Search operations are underway to rescue the four missing crew members. The missing Indian crew member has been identified as Sakim Hegde, one of the cooks on board. The ship is about 90 nautical mile from Trivandrum.

Out of the 23 survivors, one survivor onboard the ALS Ceres of Thai nationality is reported to be critical. The coast guard was deploying its high-speed interceptor boat from Vizhinjam to evacuate the ailing crew member. 

Deputy Commandant Avinandan Mitra, PRO, ICG West, in a statement

“Coast Guard MRCC is providing telephonic medical advice to stabilise the patient. Few life boats were noticed by the coast guard and preliminary investigations reveal that life boats are empty,” the statement read.

The high temperature has melted the container ships carrying chemicals on board the container vessel and the fire was raging through the ship’s forward portion and was gradually spreading towards the bridge, the Commandant stated in a statement on 8 March.

The Maersk Honam vessel, which was en route Suez from Singapore, caught fire with flames from the ship’s main deck.

Fire is suspected to have started in one of the 7,860 containers on board.

Search is still underway for the four crew members who went missing after the blaze.

Fire Engulfed a Container Onboard

The ship was at a distance of 570 km (340 nautical miles) from Agatti in the Lakshwadeep Islands when the incident occurred, The Indian Express reported. The DGS official told PTI on Wednesday, 7 March, that the fire was suspected to have started in one of the 7,860 containers on board, the report added.

It is our priority to save and rescue the four missing crew and also continue our efforts to salvage the vessel with assistance of specialised vessels which is being arranged in co-ordination with the ship’s agency.

IG KR Nautiyal, the Coast Guard Commander (West) said in a statement

We are now doing our utmost to continue the ongoing search and rescue operations, by re-routing our own vessels with the assistance of vessels in the area – most notably ALS Ceres that thankfully acted promptly upon our distress call – and the local authorities. 

Soren Toft, the chief operating officer and member of the executive board, AP Moller-Maersk

The company's statement said it has re-routed three ships – MSC Lauren, Edith Maersk and Gerd Maersk – which were passing through the Arabian Sea.

Two of the evacuated crew members were injured and received first aid on board ALS Ceres, it said.

"We will offer crisis counselling for the seafarers signing-off and returning to their families and our deepest empathy go out to the families of the crew members who are still unaccounted for," Toft said.

(With inputs from PTI, Indian Express)

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