Twenty-two crew members of the merchant vessel MV SSL Kolkata that went up in flames on Thursday were finally rescued and brought to the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) jetty in Haldia at night amidst turbulent weather while the owner of the merchant ship is expected to reach on Saturday at the spot.

A total of 22 crew members of the merchant vessel that caught fire in the Bay of Bengal off the Haldia Coast on Thursday were brought last night to the Coast Guard jetty at Haldia. The ICG ship Rajkiran however faced difficulties initially reaching the berth due to the strong currents and inclement weather but managed to finally dock at around 11pm.

The crew members of the merchant ship, apparently exhausted and terrified, recalled the crucial moments after landing on the jetty while chanting slogans lauding the ICG for successfully rescuing them. They were provided refreshments by ICG on reaching the jetty.

Speaking to one of the merchant ship crew, it was revealed that the fire which had the possibility of being contained spread rapidly due to the strong winds that prevailed at that point of time. The captain of MV SSL Kolkata, Ranjan Rajat said “Right now I do not want to comment on what caused the fire but am sure an investigation will be started that will expectedly lead to the revelation of the cause. However, we were constantly fighting the fire and each one of us was working towards bringing the situation under control.”

Another crew member requesting anonymity said “I was scared and for a moment thought it is the end and wanted to desperately convey the same to my family. However, we stayed calm and tried to contain the situation as much as possible but the fire was spreading rapidly and hence we decided to abandon the ship immediately.”

T.Ngamlien, Captain of ICGS Rajkiran, said “As soon as the fire was reported and an open request reached us for evacuation, we immediately gathered all the crew who were dispatched along with the necessary assets. Generally it takes around four hours to ready a ship but in this case it was done within a time span of 30 minutes.”

As per information received from the owner of the merchant vessel, it was known that the fire occurred due to an explosion in the lower hold and thereafter spread to containers on the main upper deck.

Inspector Kuldip Singh Sheoran, PTM, TM Commander Coast Guard Region (North East) has on Friday informed:”Presently the merchant vessel is stationary and upright about 10 km south of nearest land. The smoke and fire on the upper deck has reduced while the owner of the vessel has arranged M/S Salvage for salvage of the vessel with two tugs hired from the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT). The salvage team will embark the vessel on Saturday for further course of action. Two offshore vessels and two Dornier aircraft of ICG are maintaining round the clock surveillance in the area and monitoring the status of the vessel. As of now no oil slick has been observed.”

The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) has stated that the vessel at present is located about 20 km west of Indo-Bangladesh border while the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve is eight miles north. No oil pollution has been reported so far.

As per the Defence spokesperson (Eastern Command), Indian Navy has planned to airlift personnel with the objective of securing the vessel in present location by dropping her anchors to avoid further drifting.

A “SeaKing 42 C helo” and Dornier aircraft of the Navy from Vishakapatnam has been mobilised to curtail the easterly drift of the merchant ship. The air assets are presently based at Kalaikunda Airbase. Additionally, INS Kadmatt has also been dispatched from Vizag. “The SeaKing 42 C helo with four crew members of the ill fated ship and Naval specialist team will airlift from Kalaikunda and winch down onboard the ship to drop the anchor.’