Mumbai, Sep 10 (IANS) Efforts were underway Monday to extinguish a fire which broke out in a cargo ship, MV Amsterdam Bride, anchored eight km south of Mumbai harbour, said an official here.
The fire broke out in some of the 112 containers of the Antigua-Barbuda-registered vessel and thick smoke continued to billow out of the ship nearly a day afterwards.
There were 22 crew members aboard the ship and none of them were injured in the fire.
Though the fire is stated to be under control, an Indian Coast Guard (ICG) official said the worry is on account of 24 containers which contain unidentified 45 tonnes of "dangerous cargo" shipped from Jamnagar to Colombo via Mumbai.
Not willing to take any chances, ICG ships Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Sankalp and Samrat, specialized pollution vessel Samudra Prahari, two Indian Navy ships, Shipping Corporation of India vessel SCI Pawan, five Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) vessels and two Mumbai Port Trust vessels are engaged in dousing the fire.
"The consolidated fire-fighting efforts have restricted the fire, which broke out in hold No.3, to the midship portion of the vessel, preventing it from spreading," an ICG official said.
The ICG and other agencies are also making an assessment of the damage to the vessel, the environmental impact, if any, and further preventive measures to curb pollution in the Arabian Sea.
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