A major fire broke out on a supply vessel on Sunday afternoon 200 km off the Mumbai coast. However, there were no casualties, a Coast Guard release said.
The Indian Coast Guard Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre at Mumbai received a distress alert at Mumbai high from supply vessel Vestfonn at 2.20 pm. The ship intimated the Coast Guard of a major fire in its engine room which was getting bigger.
The Coast Guard regional headquarters in Mumbai immediately diverted an aircraft on surveillance to assess the situation. In coordination with other ships in the vicinity, 28 of the 33 crew members of the affected vessel were evacuated by other ships in the sea.
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The other five crew members stayed on board for managing the situation. Coast Guard ships ICGS Sankalp and ICGS Samudra Prahari, equipped with major fire fighting as well as pollution control capabilities, and patrol ship ICGS Achook were sent to render assistance.
They were joined by an Indian Naval Sea King helicopter, the release added.