Indian Coast Guard, Navy Rescue All 24 Crew After Liberian Cargo Ship Capsizes Off Kerala Coast

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Saturday (24 May) launched a large-scale rescue operation after a Liberian-flagged cargo ship listed dangerously on Friday, approximately 38 nautical miles southwest off Kochi.

At around 1.25 pm on Saturday, the vessel’s operator, MSC Ship Management, informed Indian authorities about the incident and sought immediate assistance, Hindustan Times reported.

The ship, MSC ELSA 3, had departed Vizhinjam Port on 23 May and was en-route to Kochi.

ICG initiated a coordinated rescue operation, deploying ships and aircraft to the scene of the distressed vessel.

To support the evacuation process, ICG aircraft dropped additional life rafts near the distressed ship.

The Directorate General of Shipping, in coordination with the ICG, directed the ship managers to arrange urgent salvage assistance.

Of the 24 crew members on board, 21 abandoned the vessel and got onto life rafts.

Nine were rescued and put aboard a Singaporean vessel, Han Yi, while 12 were put on Arnvesh, an ICG ship.

The remaining crew members, captain, chief engineer and second engineer, who had remained onboard to assist planned salvage operation, were rescued by Indian Navy's ship INS Sujata in the early hours of Sunday (25 May) after the ship started capsizing rapidly.

"In the early hours of 25 May 25, the vessel capsized rapidly reportedly due to flooding in one of the holds. 03 crew remaining onboard abandoned ship and were rescued by INS Sujata, which joined operations last evening," he said.

The ICG said that it is conducting "assessment of the situation and issuing advisory to state authorities accordingly".

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