The container vessel “EM-Oinousses” experienced an engine room fire while it was sailing from Maputo to Mombasa, which the crew was able to put out, but the vessel ended up sailing uncontrollable.
Specifically, KOTUG International received a mayday call on January 20 by EM-Oinousses that the vessel had a devastating fire in the engine room.
The crew onboard the vessel was able to extinguish the fire at about 50 miles off the coast of Nacala, Mozambique, the ship appeared to be uncontrollable. At the time, the vessel was sailing in high swells and the 25 crewmembers onboard were at risk.
Consequently, the company conducted salvage operations and its helped the crewmembers onboard to safely disembark at the port of Nacala, without any injuries, on January 21.
Ard-Jan Kooren, CEO of KOTUG International commented that
We are glad that we were able to bring the MV EM-OINOUSSES and its crew to a safe haven and prevented a possible disaster for the vessel, its crews, and the environment. I am proud of our well-trained crew who adequately responded to the Mayday signal.
Concerning fires, IUMI, in a recent forum, took the chance to alert on the situation and call the shipping industry to improve its existent onboard firefighting systems and seafarers’ training, as both seem to lack of efficiency in these challenging times.
