India Moves Warship INS Surat Off Kozhikode Coast After Huge Explosion Onboard Singapore Cargo Vessel Near Kerala Coast

Kochi: India has moved its warship INS Surat off Kozhikode Coast after a huge explosion occurred under deck onboard a Singapore-based cargo vessel near Beypore in Kozhikode off Kerala coast.

According to the Indian coast guard, at least 4 crew members are missing while 5 others are reportedly injured. The coast guard has deployed four ships in the fire fighting operation.

The Singapore vessel – MV WAN HAI 503 – on passage from Colombo to Nhava Sheva reported explosion under deck when the vessel was near the Kerala coast. The ship was carrying a containerised cargo with a total of 22 crew members onboard.

A Coast Guard Dornier Aircraft was diverted to the explosion site for assessment. In addition to that, four more Indian Coast Guard ships including Indian Coast Guard (ICGS) Rajdoot off New Mangalore, ICGS Arnvesh off Kochi and ICGS Sachet off Agatti diverted to the incident site for assistance.

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) in a post on X, formerly Twitter, informed, “Quick response by Indian Coast Guard after explosion on Singapore flagged MV WANHAI 503, 130 NM NW of Kerala coast. ICG aircraft assessed the scene and dropped air-droppable 4 ships diverted for rescue.”

The Singapore-based container was heading towards Mumbai and was expected to reach the coast by June 10, 2025. The ship had left Singapore on June 6. 

Out of the 18 crew members rescued so far, 4 have been reportedly missing. Among these four members, 2 are Taiwanese nationals, one each from Indonesia and Myanmar.

In a detailed statement, the Indian Coast Guard informed that at around 9:30 am on Monday, they received a distress alert from the Singapore-flagged container vessel Wan Hai 503, regarding an explosion and fire onboard one of the containers, 88 Nautical miles from the coast of Beypore.

The vessel had departed the port of Colombo, Sri Lanka, with 22 crew onboard on June 6 for the Nhava Sheva Port, Mumbai, they said.

After receiving the alert, ICG assets were diverted immediately and are coordinating rescue operations for the crew.

At around 12:40 PM, the resulting fire has been reported to have spread to other containers, and the crew has abandoned the vessel into life rafts.

ICG maritime rescue coordination centre diverted MV One Marvel, which recovered 18 of the crew. Of the 18 crew rescued, one is reported to have sustained serious injuries.