The recent fire on the MV Maersk Frankfurt, a container merchant cargo vessel off the Goa coast, has finally been brought under control after over 24 hours. Despite the fire being controlled in the front portion of the vessel, the Indian Coast Guard has reported that heavy smoke persists and has reignited midship.
Inspector General Bhisham Sharma, Commander of the Coast Guard Region West, informed that one of the ship’s 21 crew members is currently missing, according to a statement from the news agency PTI.
The merchant vessel had 21 crew members — 17 Filipinos, two Ukrainians, one Montenegrin and a Russian. One of the Filipino crew members is missing, while the others are safe, he told PTI.
A total of three Indian Coast Guard ships were deployed for dousing the cargo vessel.
“ICG ships Sachet, Sujeet and Samrat are ongoing with fire-fighting operations. Additionally, ICG Pollution Control Vessel Samudra Prahari is being deployed to the scene today,” the Coast Guard said.
Notably, fire broke out on the vessel, which was going from Mundra Port in Gujarat to Colombo in Sri Lanka, at about 102 nautical miles south-west of Goa, on Friday
