The Singaporean cargo ship Wan Hai 503 caught fire in Indian waters on the afternoon of June 9, leaving four crew members, including a Myanmar national, missing, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said.
The missing include one Myanmar national, two Taiwanese nationals and one Indonesian national, the MPA said.
Indian media reported that 18 of the 22 crew members on board were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard.
The wife of one of the injured Myanmar sailors said her husband was blown away by the explosion.
“He was lucky he was not injured. He saw the containers flying away. He managed to escape. He is now in hospital with a ringing in one ear,” she said.
Three crew members are in the ICU with burns.
The container ship, which was carrying containers, was off the coast of Kerala in southern India. The explosion and fire broke out 80 kilometers southwest of Ajijickal.
The fire was still being extinguished, the Indian Coast Guard said.
The Wan Hai 503 is a cargo ship owned by the Taiwanese company Wan Hai Lines (Singapore) Pte Ltd., registered in Singapore.
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