India battles container ship fire with ‘hazardous’ cargo

NEW DELHI: India´s coast guard said it was battling to extinguish fires raging on a container ship carrying “hazardous” cargo off the southern coast to prevent a “potential ecological disaster”.

The 268-metre Singapore-flagged container vessel MV Wan Hai 503, carrying 22 crew members -- four of whom are missing -- caught fire about 78 nautical miles off India´s Beypore port on Monday.

Photographs released by the coast guard soon after the blaze broke out showed heavy containers scattered about the vessel, as if hurled up by a powerful explosion. Since then, fire has engulfed the ship.