Multiple explosions and fires erupted on a cargo ship bound for India's financial capital Mumbai on Monday, causing 40 containers to fall into the Arabian Sea and forcing several crew members to jump overboard to escape the flames, officials said.
The Singapore-flagged WAN HAI 503 met with an accident about 144 km off the coast of the southern Indian state of Kerala, said Shekhar Kuriakose, secretary of the state's disaster management authority.
"According to preliminary information... there were 22 workers on board the ship... 18 jumped into the sea and are in rescue boats. Efforts are underway to rescue them," he said, adding that the vessel was not "currently sinking".
Pictures and videos shared by the Indian coast guard on X showed a thick plume of black smoke rising from the ship, and some containers lying open and in disarray near the point where the smoke was escaping.
"Vessel is presently on fire and adrift," a defence ministry public relations officer said on X.
Officials did not disclose the nature of the cargo in the containers, nor what caused the explosions.
A container vessel sank in another accident off Kerala last month, releasing 100 cargo containers into the Arabian Sea. The directorate general of shipping said on Friday there were no reports of oil pollution because of that incident.
Colombia quake death toll tops 250 as rescuers race to find survivors
Syria sentences absent Bashar al-Assad to death
South Africa mine dump collapse kills 14 suspected illegal miners
Lebanon's parliament approves abolition of death penalty
Russia frees ailing ex-US Marine from detention
Ebola deaths surpass 2,000 in Democratic Republic of Congo
Trump demands Iranian reparations as peace deal discussions continue
Indonesia races to contain fires as haze spreads
