On June 9, a major fire broke out in the southwest waters of the Wanhai Shipping container ship "WAN HAI 503" in the southwest India. Four people are still missing, including two Taiwanese crew members.
The accident occurred at around 12:30 Singapore time on June 9. The "Wangchun" ship was located about 80 kilometers southwest of Azikar, Kerala, India. Several explosions occurred on the ship and fires caused, and the fire continued to spread. The accident caused about 40 containers to fall into the Arabian Sea and the crew was forced to abandon the ship and escape.
The Wangchun ship carries a total of 22 crew members, most of whom are Taiwanese. 18 of them were abandoned on a lifeboat and rescued by the merchant ship "ONE MARVEL" that was heading to assist, and four others were missing. Five of the 18 crew members rescued were injured, one of whom was seriously injured. The missing persons include 2 Taiwanese crew members, 1 Burmese crew member and 1 Indian crew member.
At present, 18 rescued crew members have been sent to the Indian naval ship "INS Surat" and will go to Mangaluru, a port city in southern India for treatment.
The Indian Coast Guard has now launched a large-scale fire extinguishing and search and rescue operations, mobilizing four Coast Guard ships and planes to the scene to assist in extinguishing the fire and rescuing crew members. Indian Ministry of Defense officials said the ship is still in a state of "continuous combustion and drifting" and thick smoke continues to emerge from the ship, causing concerns about the possible secondary explosion.
However, India did not explain the cause of the "Wangchun" accident and the nature of the cargo in the container on the ship. At present, preliminary information says that one of the containers was the one that occurred. Whether the cargo owner has indeed declared that the goods are dangerous goods, and whether the shipper has placed the container in an appropriate position are all the key points of future investigations on accidents. Generally speaking, hazardous goods are mostly placed on the deck and must be kept away from the cabin, but some cargoes need to be kept away from the sun and therefore must be placed under the deck.
It is understood that the "Wangchun" ship is a 4252TEU medium-sized container ship built by Taiwan ships and delivered and operated in 2005, underwritten by the Britannia P&I Club. At present, the ship is managed by Wanhai Shipping Wanhai Shipping (Singapore) Private Co., Ltd., and is jointly operated by Evergreen Shipping and Germany Hapag-Lloyd's route in South China-India. The "Wangchun" ship set off from Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 7 and was originally scheduled to arrive in Mumbai, India on June 10.
Wanhai Shipping issued an announcement stating that after the "Wangchun" ship fire incident, the company immediately launched an emergency response team and quickly cooperated with the personnel on board, the competent authorities and the insurance company to implement the emergency handling procedures. After a comprehensive assessment by the captain and the local maritime unit company in India, in order to ensure the personal safety of all crew members, the company implements the abandonment procedures in accordance with international maritime regulations.
The announcement pointed out that there were a total of 22 crew members on the "Wangchun" ship, of which 4 were missing. In addition, 18 crew members (including 5 injured crew members) have been evacuated safely. With the assistance of relevant units, these crew members will be properly arranged and receive necessary medical services. At present, Wanhai Shipping is actively cooperating with the competent authorities and insurance companies to deal with subsequent crew rescue, cargo preservation, and ship rescue assessment. If there is further information, the company will update and inform you in a timely manner.
It is worth mentioning that just about half a month ago, on May 25, the container ship "MSC Elsa 3" (built in 1997) of Mediterranean Shipping 1728TEU (built in 1997), sank. The accident site is also outside the sea of Kerala, India. The ship has a total of 24 crew members, all of which have been rescued and no casualties have been reported.
"MSC Elsa 3" carries 640 containers, 13 of which contain dangerous goods and 12 of them contain calcium cargo. At the same time, there are 84.44 tons of diesel and 367.1 tons of heavy oil on board, which poses a major pollution risk. The accident caused more than 60 containers to be washed up on the Kerala coastline and signs of fuel leaks have been found. At present, relevant agencies are assessing the impact of environmental pollution caused by the accident and deploying cleaning and emergency measures.
According to statistics recently released by Allianz Commercial, Europe's largest insurance company, in the past decade, fires have been the fourth leading cause of ship accidents. In 2024, the number of fire accidents on various ships was 250, up 20% year-on-year, reaching the highest point in a decade, with about 30% of fire accidents occurring on container ships, ordinary cargo ships or ro-to-ro ships.
Alliance pointed out that fires on container ships are still a major risk, and false declarations of dangerous goods are one of the key incentives. This risk remains serious due to the huge size of the ship and the complexity of fire extinguishing and salvage work.
