Smoke billows out of MV SSL Kolkata on Sunday. Picture courtesy Coast Guard

Calcutta: Choppy waters on Sunday forced a salvage team aboard a tugboat to give up attempts to get close to the abandoned cargo ship that caught fire four days ago near the Sunderbans coast.

The team was approaching MV SSL Kolkata on a Calcutta Port Trust vessel when heavy shoaling in the Bay of Bengal - it is the effect by which surface waves entering shallower water change in wave height - forced them to turn back.

The Bay of Bengal is around eight nautical miles from the Sunderbans.

The cargo ship has been adrift in shallow waters since June 14, when the Coast Guard rescued its 22-member crew.

The salvage team comprising experts from the multinational company SMIT has been hired by Shreyas Shipping and Logistics, the owner of the cargo ship.

On Saturday morning, a navy team and three crew members of the MV SSL Kolkata had descended on the ship from a Sea King 42C helicopter. The team managed to drop the starboard (right) anchor of the ship that had till then been drifting towards the maritime border with Bangladesh.

Two officials from SMIT were airlifted by the Coast Guard in a Dornier aircraft for a close aerial survey of the ship, an officer said.

The Coast Guard will make an attempt on Monday to take the salvage team till the abandoned ship.

An officer in the Calcutta Port Trust said the fire had not yet affected the hold that contains chemicals. "Thick iron plates separate one hold from another. This is why the fire has not yet reached the cargo hold where the chemicals are kept. But we do not know how long the partition will work if the fire continues to rage."

There is also the danger of structural damage to the ship if the fire continues to burn.

No oil or chemical spill has been reported so far.

Two advanced offshore patrol vessels with fire-fighting and pollution response capabilities have been maintaining a round-the-clock vigil on the ship. Four hovercraft of the Coast Guard are on standby at the Fraserganj forward operating base to help the salvage team, if needed.

Three other Coast Guard vessels and pollution control equipment have been kept ready at the Haldia port for immediate deployment in the event of an oil spill.

MV SSL Kolkata was abandoned by its captain and crew after flames aided by strong winds spread to 70 per cent of the ship, then positioned about 55 nautical miles from Sagar Island. </s> A container ship was still seen emitting smoke today despite an Indian Air Force chopper having put off its fire yesterday, a Defence official said. The smoke was seen billowing out of MV SSL Kolkata today during a visual recce by the Coast Guard aircraft, he added. “A recce by a Coast Guard Dornier aircraft this morning revealed that smoke continues to emanate though there is no visible flame,” Defence spokesperson Wing Commander S S Birdi said. The Coast Guard has again flown a Dornier aircraft to carry out a visual assessment of the situation on the ship this evening, which was anchored about 8 nautical miles from Sunderbans. An Air Force Mi-17 helicopter has been stationed at Frazerganj harbour helipad, the nearest possible location to the vessel “in case there is a requirement to once again carry out the dousing operations,” he said.

A Coast Guard spokesperson said “no oil spill has been observed around the vessel.” The spokesperson said the Coast Guard ships are maintaining round the clock vigil in the vicinity of SSL Kolkata. “Four hovercraft at Frazerganj and two Coast Guard ships in Haldia are on standby for any support and, particularly pollution response, if situation arises,” the spokesperson said. The fire that was reported around 11 pm on June 14.

An Mi-17 V5 helicopter of the Air Force had poured 15,000 litres of water on the burning ship yesterday from a Bambi bucket in six shuttles. A marine commando of the Navy and three members of the crew dropped the starboard anchor of the vessel on Saturday in a daring operation after they were winched down on the blazing ship from a Seaking 42C helicopter to arrest its drift towards the International Maritime Border Line with Bangladesh.

The spot was eight nautical miles off the Sunderbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest. MV SSL Kolkata was abandoned by its captain and 21 other crew members after 70 per cent of the ship carrying containerised cargo went on fire in the Bay of Bengal, about 55 nautical miles from Sagar Island in West Bengal. The 148-metre-long ship was carrying 464 containers and 211 metric tonnes of heavy fuel on board and caught fire while sailing from Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to Haldia port, according to the Coast Guard. </s> Kolkata, June 18 (IANS) The raging fire in MV SSL Kolkata that began on June 14 night in the Bay of Bengal was finally extinguished on Sunday, a Defence Ministry spokesperson said.

The mission, led by Wg Cdr Nikhil Mehrotra along with Flt Lt Atul Mishra, was achieved by deploying a Mi-17 V-5 helicopter.

The helicopter operated from Frazerganj Harbour helipad which, though small in size, was nearest to the location of the container vessel on fire.

With support from the Indian Coast Guard and the harbour officials, approximately 15,000 litres of water was poured over the burning ship in six shuttles.

“Being surrounded by thick smoke emanating from the ship deck, it was a huge challenge to maintain clear of the tall structures on the ship like the cargo cranes and yet deliver the water spray from an appropriate height for it to be most effective,” said Wg Cdr Mehrotra. </s> Kolkata, June 19 (IANS) With smoke continuing to emanate from the merchant vessel MV SSL Kolkata, which was devastated by a raging fire in the Bay of Bengal on June 14, a Dornier helicopter of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) was deployed on Monday evening to carry out a visual assessment of the situation, according to a Defence Ministry spokesperson.

On Sunday, the ministry had announced that the fire had been extinguished.

“After the dousing of the fire on-board MV SSL Kolkata yesterday (Sunday) by the Air Force, a visual recce was immediately conducted by ICG which brought out that smoke was seen emanating from the vessel,” the spokesperson said.

A recce by the Dornier on Monday morning showed that the smoke continued to billow out from the ship, “though there was no visible flame”.

In view of the situation, one ICG Dornier was again launched at 6 p.m on Monday to make a visual assessment of the situation, he said.

Meanwhile, an Air Force Mi-17 held position in Frazerganj in case there was a need to carry out dousing operations. </s> The fire on board a container ship in the Bay of Bengal was extinguished with the help of an Indian Air Force helicopter, around 65 hours after it was reported, a senior defence official said tonight.The Coast Guard said there had been no oil spillage from the MV SSL Kolkata which caught fire on Thursday night and was abandoned by its crew who were later rescued.The fire that was reported around 11 pm on June 14 was finally doused at around 4 pm today with an Mi-17 V5 helicopter pouring water on the burning ship from a Bambi bucket, Wing Commander S S Birdi said.The Air Force swung into action after receiving a call at its helicopter unit based at Barrackpore IAF Station near here this morning. The mission was led by Wing Commander Nikhil Mehrotra, along with Flight Lieutenant Atul Mishra.The helicopter arrived at Frazergunj harbour helipad, the nearest to the location of the ill-fated vessel, at 1.15 pm, Birdi said in a statement."With the support of the Coast Guard and harbour officials, the helicopter was airborne by 2.15 pm. The burning ship was soon located and approximately 15,000 litres of water was poured in six shuttles," he said.Having completed the task in less than 90 minutes, the helicopter flew back to Frazergunj.Mehrotra was quoted by a defence official that it was a huge challenge to maintain clear of the tall structures of the ship such as cargo cranes, with the chopper being surrounded by thick smoke.With each passing shuttle, it was also important to assess the pattern of fire for the next release."Needless to say that pilot's skill counts most on the effectiveness of such a mission and we did achieve it within minutes, considering the number of days for which the fire has been burning," Mehrotra said."There was no fire on the ship and it was upright and stationary, with no oil spillage," Birdi said, quoting a senior Coast Guard official.The Coast Guard Regional Commander Inspector General Kuldip Singh Sheoran said although the fire had been doused, the pollution response teams and various Coast Guard assets were in a state of readiness, should a need arise.A marine commando of the Navy and three members of the crew dropped the starboard anchor of the vessel yesterday in a daring operation after they were winched down on the blazing ship from a Seaking 42C helicopter to arrest its drift towards the International Maritime Border Line with Bangladesh.The spot was eight nautical miles off the Sunderbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, Sheoran said.MV SSL Kolkata was abandoned by its captain and 21 other crew members after 70 per cent of the ship carrying containerised cargo was on fire in the Bay of Bengal, about 55 nautical miles from Sagar Island in West Bengal The 148-metre-long ship was carrying 464 containers and 211 metric tonnes of heavy fuel on board and caught fire while sailing from Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to Haldia port, according to the Coast Guard. </s> MSC Daniela is docked at Colombo port, Colombo International Container Terminal, ten days after a blaze broke out in the aft section of the 13,800 teu, local media reported. No further information was provided.

Earlier, Ceylon Today reported that the Maritime Rescue Coordinating Centre (MRCC) Colombo, had received a fire distress call from the local agent of 'MSC Daniela' as the vessel was 120 nautical miles off the Port of Colombo, on Tuesday (April 04).

The Panama flagged container ship was sailing from Singapore to Egypt and the fire broke out in the vessel while outside the Colombo Port. Colombo was not meant to be a port of call for the ill-fated vessel, but Colombo, soon was to be a matter of necessity and not a matter of choice.

Sri Lanka Navy had despatched two patrol boats to evacuate the crew of the vessel in case the fire spread. And two Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) tugs tackled the fire on the ship.

Earlier, a statement from Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) said: "The extent of the damage and cargo losses will not be known until the vessel has safely berthed and has undergone a thorough inspection. Customers with cargo on-board the MSC Daniela should contact their local MSC office." </s> New Delhi: In a complex and courageous operation, a Seaking 42 C helicopter from the Eastern Naval Command winched down one Marco officer on the ill-fated merchant vessel SSL Kolkata which had been on fire since the last two days and abandoned by the 22 crew members on June 14, 2018 off the Sagar Island at the mouth of the Ganges Delta.

The marine commando officer ascertained the conditions in the forward part of the ship and later called in the helicopter to lower onboard three crew members of the ship. The team managed to drop the starboard anchor from the ship to prevent her from drifting any further.

Thereafter the team prepared the seamanship gear for the ship to be towed if required. The live nature of the threat was evident from the explosion onboard in the forenoon which restarted the fire. It skillfully recovered all four members of the team and is returning base for turnaround.

Earlier, Vice Admiral Karambir Singh , Commanding- in-Chief Eastern Naval Command, had directed that the ship drift towards the Sundarbans delta had to be stopped at all costs notwithstanding the high temperatures onboard to avoid an ecological disaster should the ship capsize on the sandbanks causing pollution from oil onboard.

Accordingly, a Seaking 42C helicopter and a Dornier aircraft were dispatched from Visakhapatnam with a core team comprising divers, Marcos, shipwrights and seamanship specialists to stage through the IAF airbase at Kalaikonda. Simultaneously, the Naval Officer-in-charge West Bengal liaise with the officials of the DG Shipping, ICG, KOPT, the ship owners, Agents and Salvage specialists at Kolkata and kept them informed of the plans.

INS Kadmatt which was exercising in the Bay of Bengal on June 15 was directed to proceed at best speed and arrived on site at first light this morning i.e. June 16 June to augment the onsite support wherein the ICG ships were also standing by. The operation this morning has successfully managed to arrest further drift of the ship to enable salvage operations by the company.

For breaking news & Instant updates throughout the day </s> Explosions rocked a stricken Iranian oil tanker in the East China Sea on Wednesday, forcing maritime authorities to suspend firefighting and rescue efforts as a blaze raged on the vessel for the fourth day after a collision with a freight ship.

The explosion on the Sanchi's bow was the latest setback in the multinational effort to extinguish the blaze and forced rescue vessels to move to a safe distance, China's Ministry of Transport said. It was not immediately known if the explosion was large enough to cause the ship to sink.

Earlier in the day, an official with South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries told Reuters the oil tanker could burn for as long as a month.

“We believe flames would last for two weeks or a month considering previous cases of oil tank accidents,” Park Sung-Dong said.

The Sanchi was carrying nearly 1 million barrels of ultra-light oil when it collided Saturday evening with a freighter 160 miles off the coast and caught fire. The cause of the collision remains unclear.

IRANIAN OIL TANKER BURNING FOR THIRD DAY, MAY EXPLODE AS CREW STILL MISSING

Intense flames, bad weather and poor visibility have hampered rescue efforts in the following days. Rescues have also faced the threat of poisonous fumes from the hulking wreck.

Rescuers on Tuesday found a body believed to be a sailor from the Iranian-operated tanker, while a search continued for 31 other missing crew members.The Iranian company who owns the ship said there is still hope of finding survivors.

A spokesman for National Iranian Tanker Co. told The Associated Press in Tehran rescuers "likely" will find survivors.

IRANIAN OIL TANKER BURNING OFF CHINA MAY EXPLODE, BODY FOUND IN SEARCH FOR MISSING CREW

"Since the vessel's engine room is not directly affected by the fire and is about [46 feet] under water, there is still hope," spokesman Mohsen Bahrami said late Tuesday. "We are persistently working to put out the fire and rescue possible survivors."

Mahmoud Abuli Ghasemabadi, the brother of missing Iranian sailor Ehasan Abuli Ghasemabadi, told the AP he and other families remained hopeful for good news.

"I ask countries that are in that region and can offer any assistance to help us deal with this situation as soon as possible," Ghasemabadi said.

It's the second collision for a ship from the National Iranian Tanker Co. in less than a year and a half. In August 2016, one of its tankers collided with a Swiss container ship in the Singapore Strait, damaging both ships but causing no injuries or oil spill.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> An Iranian oil tanker that has been ablaze for almost a week after colliding with a cargo ship off the coast of China today sank with no hopes of finding any survivors among the 32 crew members.

The 274-meter-long Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil from Iran to South Korea, had been burning since colliding with the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter, about 300 kms east of the Yangtze River estuary on on January 6.

China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said in a statement that it detected fires and dense black smoke in a large area around the Panama-registered oil tanker at around 10 am (local time) today and the entire ship sank at around 3 pm.

A large amount of spilled oil is still burning on the surface around the site, the SOA said.

The administration said it will monitor the oil spills and evaluate the accident’s impact on the marine environment, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Iran announced that all the ship’s 32 crew members -30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis were presumed dead, according to Iranian state media.

Only three bodies have been recovered so far.

“There is no hope of finding survivors among the members of the crew,” Mohammad Rastad, spokesman for the Iranian rescue team, told Iran’s state broadcaster in Tehran before the tanker went down.

“Despite our efforts, it has not been possible to extinguish the fire and recover the bodies due to repeated explosions and gas leaks,” he said.

Chinese maritime authorities had launched a search and rescue operation for the 30 Iranian and two Bangladeshi crew onboard the Sanchi.

All 21 Chinese crew members on the bulk freighter were rescued.

Environment experts had expressed fear that the accident could create a massive environmental disaster and kill off marine life across a wide area.

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A second attempt is made to extinguish burning container ship MV SSL Kolkata in the Bay of Bengal off India after rough conditions prompted an abandonment of yesterday's efforts.