Thiruvananthapuram, 11 June(HS): Wan Hai 503, the Singapore-flagged cargo vessel which was engulfed in fire off the coast of Kerala on Monday morning is being brought under control, according to sources in Southern Naval Command, Kochi, who does not want to be identified.

A team of salvage experts entered the ship on Wednesday evening though the blaze continues unabated. The containers carrying highly explosively and toxic materials are falling one by one into the sea as the unmanned ship floats in the Arabian Sea. There is a possibility of the ship exploding as the fire on board the vessel remains uncontrolled. The only news that brought relief to the outside world is that the ship was moving away from the Kerala shore to high sea. The ship has made a 15-degree tilt towards the ocean and this would lead to more and more containers falling into the sea.

Coast Guard ships and aircraft continue their salvage operations despite the high waves and wind making it difficult to bring the vessel under control. What is shocking is the frequency of shipwrecks that has increased ever since the Adani built Vizhinjam Port became operational. Gaurav Pradhan, a data analyst, who is known as the Sherlock Holmes of cyberspace pointed out that no major ship incidents have been reported for decades along the Indian coast. “Now with the opening up of Vizhinjam Port, a Liberian ship with dangerous cargo and a Singapore-flagged ship allegedly owned by a Chinese (Wan Hai 503) have sunk. Beijing has a record of dumping toxic waste, deploying ghost ships and illegal surveillance,” said Pradhan.

Hindusthan Samachar / Manohar Yadavatti