The fire stricken Wan Hai 503 is being towed out of India’s EEZ with a plan to sail to a port of refuge in Sri Lanka although this is yet to be confirmed.
It is understood that the Wan Hai 503 is now under tow and heading out from India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The preferred option is to sail to the southern Sri Lankan port of Hambantota, which is operated by China Merchants
However, docking in Hambantota will require approval from the Sri Lankan authorities and other options in Southeast Asia are understood to still be under consideration.
Officials have confirmed the tug Offshore Warrior has a line on the stricken container ship while three other vessels are continuing to douse the flames as fires on the vessel keep reigniting.
The towage operation is being hampered by strong winds and heavy seas as a result of the monsoon season.
Information on the casualty is hard to come by as Wan Hai refuses to give any details of the causes or the extent of the fire on its vessel, though photographs show that the blaze has spread along most of the length of the ship.
Ironically there are more up-to-date details released publicly by Hapag-Lloyd than from Wan Hai itself. An update on 26 June posted by the German line on its website said: “The firefighting and cooling efforts show progressive containment of the fire but progress is slow due to difficult weather conditions.”
However, officials have said that the vessel’s engine room is flooded, but that the vessel has now been “stabilised” and can be towed to a port. India has refused to allow the vessel to dock, and the ship will need to head 1,000 km to dock at Hambantota in Sri Lanka.
It is understood that fires continue to burn in some of the Wan Hai 503’s cargo holds.
Other details are emerging, though not all information can be confirmed, for example, it has been reported that the body of one of the missing crewmen and a lifeboat ran aground near Paravur, some 100 km south of Alappuzha, where the vessel caught fire. Another body of the four missing crew was found on board the ship, with two still missing.
Moreover, reports suggest that two agents remain in police custody, under suspicion of misdeclaring dangerous goods, which it is thought could be the origin of the fire. It is understood that the Taiwanese company has a policy of never stowing dangerous cargo in the hold. The fire started in the hold of the vessel.
Unconfirmed reports also suggest a cocktail of chemicals loaded onto the vessel including 12 containers of naphthalene, four boxes of formaldehyde as well as pharmaceutical reagents and herbicides.
Questions are also being asked if a consignment of undeclared lithium-ion batteries or ammonium nitrate, the chemical responsible for the destructive explosion in Beirut that tore the city apart in August 2020.
India imported $206.91 million worth of ammonium nitrate last year.
However, the reignition of the fires on board are raising suspicions that lithium-ion batteries, or goods such as computers, that have the batteries fitted, were the initial cause of the blaze on board the ship.
The Wan Hai 503 was operating on the China India Express service and was en route to Nhava Sheva when an explosion and fire caused the crew to abandon ship, 70 miles off the coast of Kerala on 9 June.
