Kerala state in southern India has issued a high alert along its coastline and advised fishermen to avoid the area near where a container ship carrying hazardous materials sank in the Arabian Sea.
The Liberia-flagged MSC ELSA 3, traveling between the Indian ports of Vizhinjam and Kochi, sank early Sunday about 38 nautical miles off Kerala. All 24 crew members were safely rescued, according to India’s defense ministry.
The ship went down with 640 containers on board, including 13 carrying unspecified hazardous cargo and 12 with calcium carbide. Its tanks held 84.44 metric tons of diesel and 367.1 metric tons of furnace oil.
Kerala’s chief minister’s office cautioned the public to stay away from containers that have started washing ashore and urged fishermen to keep a safe distance from the wreck site.
The Indian Coast Guard responded by deploying an aircraft equipped with oil spill detection technology to monitor the area, along with a ship carrying pollution control equipment to manage any potential environmental impact.
