'MSC Elsa 3' shipwreck probe: Centre says dangerous cargo may have to be removed, but...

The Centre on Tuesday informed the Kerala High Court that the wreck of the MSC Elsa 3 (IMO: 9123221) off the coast of Kerala contained hazardous cargo and may have to be removed entirely.

The submission was made before the Division Bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V. and Justice K.V. Jayakumar, who were hearing a batch of public interest litigations (PILs) claiming that the shipwreck had already caused significant ecological damage.

They demanded that the shipwreck be completely removed, and that affected fishermen be compensated.

Back in May 2025, the Liberian-flagged ship sank about 14.6 nautical miles off the coast of Kerala after severely listing (tilting to one side due to the entry of water inside the vessel).

According to the Centre, the cargo left in the shipwreck—calcium carbide, rubber chemical anti-oxidants, and plastic nurdles—constituted a hazard, due to which the shipwreck was to be removed under Section 356J of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, and provisions of the Nairobi Convention on the Removal of Wrecks.

It added that the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO) report on the wreck could further help prove that the shipwreck was to be removed.

The Tuesday hearing at the Kerala High Court comes as the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) is currently awaiting a response from the Indian Navy on a proposed underwater operation to assess the structural integrity and status of the submerged MSC Elsa 3.

The Navy had been asked to deploy its deep-sea diving and Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) vehicles to assess the hull's structural integrity, locate scattered containers on the seabed, and evaluate environmental risks.

However, there are two key setbacks for the shipwreck removal efforts.

Firstly, the Court was informed that physical underwater surveys and dive operations by the Navy could only be safely executed after the end of the ongoing monsoon season and sea conditions start to normalise.

The second is pushback from the ship owners, which have urged DG Shipping to withdraw its directive saying that the shipwreck should be completely removed.

They argued that salvage operators had already extracted approximately 437 metric tonnes of fuel/water mix from the hull of the wreck between August and September 2025, neutralising the immediate oil spill risks and added that the wreck also did not obstruct things at the surface of the water either.

Most importantly, they claimed—using private survey reports—that raising the waterlogged, sediment-heavy containers risked rupturing the containers with hazardous goods like calcium carbide and plastic nurdles, and that it was better to leave the shipwreck as is.

Rejecting the ship owner's request to leave the submerged cargo untouched, the Centre has maintained that the Navy wreck probe remains necessary to get a clear idea of the dangers posed by the containers of the MSC Elsa 3.

The Kerala High Court will further look into the matter on August 17, 2026.