The Indian Directorate General of Shipping reported that two weeks after the fire, the container ship WAN HAI 503 still had sporadic fires on board and one area had rekindled. The Indian Directorate General of Shipping plans to hold a meeting this week to discuss how to tow it to a port of refuge amid growing concerns about its stability.
The Indian Directorate General of Shipping had originally scheduled a meeting for June 24 to discuss plans to tow the accident vessel to Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka, which has been selected as the preferred port of refuge. Indian ports have refused to accept the vessel. Previous discussions had considered towing the vessel to Jebel Ali, Bahrain or Colombo. The tow route and weather conditions are currently being assessed, and if the vessel’s stability cannot be controlled, it will be immediately transferred.
After the firefighting work on the WAN HAI 503 made progress and the fire was basically under control, three rescue workers were lowered to the stern by helicopter on June 13. The purpose of the onboard inspection was to start the emergency generator onboard to assist in the firefighting work and to connect the towing cable of the accident vessel to the salvage tugboat Offshore Warrior.
The WAN HAI 503 is currently anchored 70 nautical miles offshore, and the Indian Directorate General of Shipping intends to move it to 200 nautical miles offshore, depending on the results of the accident vessel’s hull stability analysis.
Previous reports stated that the fire on the WAN HAI 503 had not spread to the stern area. However, according to the latest information from India, water has entered the stern, increasing the draft by approximately 30 centimeters, and there are reports of water entering the engine room.
On June 23, the Indian Directorate General of Shipping conducted diving operations to inspect the hull for the source of the water ingress and considered using diving pumps to try to drain the accumulated water from the stern area.
In addition to water inflow in the stern and other areas, the No. 14 cabin of the “WAN HAI 503” was re-ignited with black smoke, and light gray smoke appeared in cabins 4 to 9 and 37 to 39. Rescuers have identified the hot spots and are currently continuing to extinguish the fire and cool down the area.
India also said that the current weather conditions are also a major problem, with large waves and gusty winds of 14 to 16 knots. Due to the towing of the cable, the vessel continues to drift at a speed of 1.3 knots. There are still four vessel on site for thermal imaging monitoring and firefighting operations.
Investigators reported that the voyage data recorder (VDR) of the WAN HAI 503 has been retrieved and is being transported to shore, and a meeting is planned for June 26 to extract the data. India is investigating the cargo loading and possible misdeclaration of cargo or attempts to conceal hazardous materials. The crew’s handling of the cargo and the fire are also within the scope of this investigation.
The fire incident on the “WAN HAI 503” occurred around 12:30 PM Singapore time on June 9, with a sudden fire and explosion approximately 80 kilometers southwest of Agikal in the Indian state of Kerala. The cause was an explosion in a container onboard, which then spread to most of the container ship.
After the explosion and fire, 18 of the 22 crew members onboard were rescued, 6 of whom were injured, 2 seriously injured, with burns covering 35% to 40% of their bodies. Another 4 crew members (1 Taiwanese, 2 Indonesian and 1 Burmese) were missing.
According to reports, the WAN HAI 503 was built and delivered by CSBC Corporation, Taiwan in 2005. It has a total length of 268.8 meters, a beam of 32.3 meters, a cruising speed of approximately 14 knots, and a maximum container capacity of 4,252 TEU.
The WAN HAI 503 is currently managed by a Singapore-based subsidiary of Taiwanese shipping company Wan Hai Lines and operates a joint venture with Evergreen Marine and German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd on the China South-India route.
The ship departed from Colombo on June 7 and was scheduled to arrive in Mumbai on June 10. At the time of the incident, it was reported to be carrying approximately 650 containers, including flammable liquids and solids, self-igniting substances, and toxic substances, among other hazardous materials.
In early June, the WAN HAI 503 underwent its final port state inspection in Mumbai, which identified some minor issues with the loading and unloading equipment and issued a workplace safety warning, but the ship was not detained.