One crew member died after an explosion caused a fire on the Maersk-chartered Maersk Frankfurt container vessel on Friday.
The explosion on the 2024-built vessel occurred while it was en route from Mundra to Colombo.
According to Maersk, the ship’s manager has confirmed the death of one of the crew members. The rest of the crew were reported safe.
The Panama Maritime Authority said in a statement that the body had not yet been recovered.
“The ship's operator reports a body in the lashing bridge, but it is impossible to reach it because of the flames.”
The vessel is reported to be in a stable condition although the fire continued to burn inside containers near the front of the vessel throughout the weekend. The Indian Coast Guard has deployed four vessels to fight the blaze and used a helicopter to drop 150 kilograms of dry chemical powder onto the fire.
“The fire-fighting operation is still on. Though the fire is under control, I will not say that it is fully doused,” Indian Coast Guard deputy inspector general, Goa Manoj Bhatia, told the local media.
The coast guard expects it will take the team at least another three to four days to extinguish the blaze. It is believed the fire may have been caused by a short circuit.
According to the 2023 Allianz Safety and Shipping Review, there were 64 reported fires on container ships over the previous five years.
The Panama-flagged vessel is owned by Tokei Kaiun Ltd and managed by Bernard Schulte Shipmanagement.
