The southern Indian state of Kerala has declared the sinking of the container ship MSC Elsa 3 a state-specific disaster.
On May 24, the container ship “MSC Elsa 3” developed a 26 degree starboard list on 24 May during its voyage from Vizhinjam to Kochi, and sank on the morning of May 25. All 24 crew members on board were safely evacuated by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard before the ship sank.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that the ship sank due to a mechanical failure in the ballast management system,” Shyam Jagannathan, director general of India’s Directorate General of Shipping (DG Shipping), said at a press conference on May 28.
Ajith Sukumaran, chief surveyor of the Indian federal government, said: “We have no evidence of other reasons. Failure of the ballast system may be due to lack of operational understanding. When the vessel listed to 26 degrees, there was a complete blackout due to failure of internal power generation. This virtually incapacitated all operations of the ship.”
The 184-meter-long container ship, built in 1997 and flying the Liberian flag, was carrying 640 containers at the time of the incident, of which about 100 had drifted away from the wreck (half of which had been washed ashore). Ajith Sukumaran added, “Most of these containers were empty, while some were filled with waste cotton and plastic nodules. Currently, T&T Salvage, an American salvage company hired by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), has sent a team of 108 people to carry out coastal cleanup work.”
The Kerala government issued a disaster declaration on May 26, stating that the sinking of the MSC Elsa 3 cargo ship was a “state-specific disaster.” An order issued by the state government’s disaster management department stated: “In view of the serious environmental, social and economic impacts that the sinking of the ship may cause, the government hereby declares the sinking of the MSC Elsa 3 in the Arabian Sea 14.6 nautical miles off the coast of Kerala as a state-level specific disaster.”
Meanwhile, the Philippines is seeking to repatriate 20 Filipino crew members on board the MSC Elsa 3. The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said it is in the process of processing temporary travel documents for the 20 crew members currently staying in a hotel in Kochi.
The 28-year-old ship, owned and operated by global shipping giant Geneva-based MSC, was found to have five deficiencies during an inspection at the Indian port of Mangalore on November 19, 2024, according to Equasis data.