IAF douses cargo ship fire

KOLKATA: The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Sunday managed to extinguish fire on board a cargo ship that had been burning since last Wednesday off the West Bengal coast.

An Mi17 V5 helicopter of the IAF carried out a Bambi bucket operation to douse the flames on the ship MV SSL Kolkata.

An Eastern Command spokesperson said the ship was stationary and floating upright after the operation. There was no sign of oil spill.

Coast Guard regional commander inspector general Kuldip Singh Sheoran said pollution response teams have been put on alert to watch out for any signs of an oil spill from the damaged ship.

On Saturday, a naval operation to take the burning ship deeper into the sea away from the Kolkata port had to be abandoned after four fresh explosions on it.

However, the four marine commandos (Marcos) of the Indian Navy and four officers of the ship, who were winched down from a helicopter for the operation, managed to anchor the ship that had been drifting since it caught fire.

The ship, carrying 10,683.51 metric tonne of cargo in 464 containers from Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to Kolkata port, caught fire after an explosion in one of the containers.

The ship’s 22-member crew, which tried to douse the fire, were rescued by the coast guard on Thursday morning and taken to Haldia port in east Midnapore district.