On Monday morning, an explosion happened under the deck of a Singapore-flagged container ship called MV Wan Hai 503, near the coast of Kerala. The explosion was first reported around 10:30 am by the Maritime Operations Centre in Mumbai, who informed their team in Kochi.
The ship is 270 meters long and had left Colombo on June 7. It was heading to Mumbai and was expected to arrive on June 10.
After hearing about the explosion, the Indian Navy immediately changed the route of their ship INS Surat, which was going to dock in Kochi, so it could help at the scene. This order was given at 11 am by the Western Naval Command.
There were 22 crew members on the ship. So far, 18 crew members have left the ship using a boat and are being rescued by Coast Guard and Navy teams. The ship is currently on fire and drifting in the water.
The Navy is also planning to send a Dornier aircraft from their air station INS Garuda in Kochi to check the situation and help coordinate rescue efforts.
