(MENAFN) The Indian Navy successfully rescued 18 crew members from the Singapore-flagged container ship MV Wan Hai 503 after it caught fire off southwestern India on Monday, defense officials reported to the Press Trust of India (PTI). The crew were safely brought aboard a naval vessel and taken to Mangaluru that same night.

The ship, traveling from Colombo to Mumbai, experienced an explosion inside one of its containers, sparking a major fire early Monday morning. Initial reports indicate that 10 to 15 containers were lost overboard due to the blast.

The vessel had 22 crew members onboard, including eight Chinese, six Taiwanese, five Myanmarese, and three Indonesians. Of those rescued, some sustained injuries, with five receiving medical treatment in Mangaluru. Four crew members remain unaccounted for.

The incident was first reported by the Mumbai Coast Guard to its counterpart in Kochi, prompting the Indian Navy to immediately dispatch the INS Surat to assist. The Chinese embassy in New Delhi expressed gratitude for the swift rescue efforts by Indian authorities.

Local reports indicated that Indian Coast Guard vessels continued battling the fire on Tuesday amid ongoing explosions near the ship’s container storage and crew living quarters. A Dornier aircraft is conducting aerial surveillance, while an environmental monitoring vessel assesses potential ecological damage.

This accident follows another recent maritime incident nearby, where the Liberian-flagged MSC ELSA 3 sank off India’s southwest coast on May 25.

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