March 09, 2018 - 10:10 AM
NEW DELHI - Twenty-two crewmembers evacuated from a Singapore-flagged cargo ship that caught fire in the Arabian Sea earlier this week have reached India, a shipping company official said Friday.
Palle Laursen, chief technical officer from Maersk, said hopes were fading for finding four missing crewmembers.
The rescue operation was continuing with an Indian Coast Guard vessel on the site near Agatti Island, about 650 nautical miles (1,203 kilometres) from Kochi, an Indian coastal city.
Two specialized firefighting vessels arrived on location on Friday and joined the effort.
Laursen said the rescued crewmembers were taken to the southern Indian cities of Kochi and Trivandrum and received medical treatment and crisis counselling. A majority of them have been transferred to hotels.
"The search continues to locate the four crew members still missing after the fire aboard Maersk Honam that began on Tuesday, although hopes of finding them are fading," he said in a statement posted Friday on the website of Maersk Line.
An investigation into the cause of the fire is planned. The blaze was reported from the cargo hold of the vessel.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018