Crew members rescued from container ship reaches Bengal’s Haldia port

Kolkata, June 15 (IANS) The 22 crew members of merchant container vessel MV SSL Kolkata, who were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard after the ship caught fire in the Bay of Bengal, have safely reached the Coast Guard's Haldia port base in West Bengal, an officer said on Friday.

The crew members, picked up by Coast Guard ship Rajkiran, amid high seas and bad weather conditions, reached Haldia hours before midnight on Thursday, the official said.

Meanwhile, the devastating blaze that reportedly broke out on the container vessel on Wednesday night and engulfed around 70 percent of the ship is still on even as tugboats hired by the ship's manufacturerA Shreyas Shipping & Logistics continues to try to douse it.

"The ship is still burning. It has gone adrift near Bengal's Sagar Islands. The operation to douse the fire is on," a Coast Guard official said.

The Rajkiran crew and a Dornier aircraft of the Coast Guard deployed for locating the ship reached the accident spot on Thursday morning and rescued the captain and the crew members after they decided to abandon the ship.

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