The Indian Navy has successfully rescued 18 crew members from a Singapore-flagged container ship that caught fire off the coast of southwestern India on Monday. The rescued crew from the ‘MV Wan Hai 503’ was taken on board a naval vessel to Mangaluru on Monday night, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency has reported, citing defense officials.
The Singapore-flagged container ship, which was en route from Colombo to Mumbai, suffered an internal container explosion and a subsequent major fire onboard on Monday morning, according to Indian media outlets. Preliminary reports suggest that 10-15 containers fell overboard as a result of the explosion.
The vessel was carrying a total of 22 crew members from various countries, including eight Chinese, six Taiwanese, five Myanmarese, and three Indonesian nationals, officials said. Eighteen sailors were rescued from the stricken ship with “some injuries,” according to The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. Four crew members remain missing, while five are being treated for injuries in a Mangaluru hospital.
The underdeck blast on the vessel was initially reported to the Indian Coast Guard’s Maritime Operations Centre in the southern city of Kochi by its Mumbai counterparts. In response the Indian Navy quickly diverted the INS Surat to provide immediate assistance to the distressed vessel, reports said.
The Chinese embassy in New Delhi thanked the Indian Navy and Mumbai Coast Guard for swiftly rescuing the crew members.
On June 9, MV Wan Hai 503 encountered onboard explosion and fire 44 nautical miles off Azhikkal, Kerala. Of the total 22 crew members on board, 14 are Chinese, including 6 from Taiwan. Our gratitude goes to the Indian Navy @indiannavy and the Mumbai Coast Guard for their prompt… https://t.co/3V8vr1xVW9
— Yu Jing (@ChinaSpox_India) June 10, 2025
Local media also reported that five Indian Coast Guard vessels were battling the fire on Tuesday, with explosions continuing from the middle section of the ship to the container storage area, located in front of the crew’s living quarters. A Dornier aircraft is conducting an aerial survey of the site, according to reports.
Efforts to mitigate the situation are being monitored by an environmental observation vessel, but the magnitude of the ecological impact remains to be assessed. This incident comes close on the heels of another shipping accident in the area. On May 25, the Liberian-flagged MSC ELSA 3 sank off the coast of southwest India.
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