During a salvage operation, an 18-member team noticed a crack on the upper deck of the container ship ‘SSL Kolkata’ that had caught fire on June 13, while underway off Sandheads, Bay of Bengal.
This discovery changed the plans of the team as they decided to empty the ship of the containers and the fuel before towing it to a port, local media inform.
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Moreover, bad weather had impeded the operation as well, with the ship being stuck in shallow waters around 18km from the Sunderbans.
The Indian Coast Guard is still keeping a 24-hour watch on the waters to detect any oil spill which can significantly damage the marine environment.
After the vessel suffered an explosion to one of its containers and a subsequent fire, a total of 22 crewmen were evacuated. The fire quickly spread to the rest of the containers, due to high windsa. As the ship started losing stability, the Captain decided to manoevre the vessel to a shallower part of the Sandheads.
All of the crew were safely evacuated from the vessel and are in good health, while there were no reports of oil pollution, the Indian Coast Guard confirmed.
At the time of the incident, the ship was en route from Krishnapatnam Port to the port of Kolkata, carrying 464 containers. The vessel is currently off Sandheads.
