A cargo ship, identified as WAN HAI 503, caught fire off Kerala's Kozhikode coast on Monday morning. The vessel was sailing under the flag of Singapore.
Around 50 containers aboard the vessel fell into the sea during the accident. The ship was spotted around 40 km west of the Beypore-Azhikkal port in the Arabian Sea when the fire erupted.
The vessel reportedly carried 650 containers and had 22 crew members on board. Reports said that 18 crew members jumped into the sea during the blaze. Some of the crew members suffered burn injuries. More details are awaited regarding their rescue.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has directed Ernakulam and Kozhikode district collectors to arrange hospital treatment for the ship's crew when they are brought ashore.
🚨 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
The Indian Coast Guard has deployed three interceptor boats from Kochi and more teams from Beypore to bring the situation under control. The Navy has deployed Dornier helicopters to the site. The 20-year-old ship, which has a length of 268.8 metres and a 32.3 metres, was coming from Colombo. It was reportedly moving at a speed of 14 nautical miles. The Mumbai-bound Singapore ship was due to unload its containers on to a mother ship at Nhava Sheva port.
This comes more than two weeks after Liberian container ship MSC ELSA 3 sunk off the Ernakulam-Alappuzha coast in Kerala. The 184-metre-long ship was sailing from Vizhinjam to Cochin Port when it tilted 26 degrees to the starboard side, around 38 nautical miles from southwest off Kochi coast.
In 2021, a container ship, MSC Messina, en route from Colombo to Singapore caught fire in the Indian Ocean.
