Merchant Vessel SSL Kolkata Catches Fire; All 22 Crew Members Rescued by Indian Coast Guard
Indian flag container vessel, SSL Kolkata reported fire on board last night
Kolkata, June 14: Indian flag container vessel, SSL Kolkata reported fire onboard last night, after an explosion in one of the containers. Gradually the fire spread over to 60 containers and became out of control. Indian Coast Guard ship, Rajkiran arrived from Haldia and Coast Dornier earlier today to rescue the crew members. According to reports, all the 22 crew members of the Merchant Vessel were rescued.
Due to fire and bad weather conditions, the vessel starts losing stability, so Master of the vessel took the decision to move it in a shallow area off sandheads for shelter. Currently, SSL Kolkata is off Sandheads near Kolkata port.
The vessel caught fire while on its journey from Krishnapattinam to Kolkata on June 13 around 10:15 pm. When the coast guard ship reached the spot, 70 percent of the vessel was already destroyed. The merchant vessel belongs to Shreyas Shipping and Logistics.
SSL Kolkata is a General cargo vessel built in 2006 by Jiangdong Shipyard Wuhu. It is currently sailing under the flag of India. The vessel’s gross tonnage is 9956 tons.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 14, 2018 02:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).