But the actual news story is somewhat different than the complete changes and falsehoods presented in the story for this thread.
Merchant vessel 'Mol Comfort' splits into two off Mumbai coast, crew rescued
A Singapore-bound merchant vessel from Jeddah split into two around 840 nautical miles off the coast here today causing oil spill even as all the crew members were rescued, Coast Guard officials said.
'Mol Comfort', the 316-m-long vessel was carrying 4,500 containers from Saudi Arabia, they said.
"The vessel hull broke into two off the Mumbai coast and the crew members were rescued from the ship in two life rafts and a life boat," a Coast Guard official said.
The cause behind the incident was yet to be ascertained. It was also not known what the ship was transporting.
The Coast Guard coordinated the rescue operation and all the 26 members of the crew--- 12 Russians and 14 Filipinos-- were rescued.
The officials said that the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, Mumbai diverted three ships - MV Hanjin Bejing, MV Zim India and MV Yantian Express, which were travelling nearby, for the rescue operation.
The rescued crew members are being sent to Colombo, they said.
The ship was traveling to Singapore from Jeddah. Not to Syria to arm the rebels.
Also, it did not sink. The two pieces are adrift and they are planning to take them in tow.
This is according to Lloyds listings:
Lloyds Loading List lunchtime report...
A Mitsui OSK Lines boxship reported sunk yesterday is apparently still afloat, having broken in two on high seas some 200 miles from Yemen, according to an Indian Coast Guard official.
Many of the 4,372 boxes on board MOL Comfort remain on the split vessel, although some have fallen in the sea, according to Mumbai operations unit commandant Rama Rao.
Rao said MOL-owned car carrier Sanderling Ace was at the site monitoring the situation but that the seas were still too high, with swells of 5 m-6 m, to determine the extent of any fuel oil spill.
MOL has now confirmed that the ship’s fore and aft sections have separated. The fore part of the hull is drifting at around 013º00´N, 60º40´E, and the aft part is some 19 miles southwest of it.
“Both parts of the ship are laden with containers and drifting in an east-northeast direction. We are also arranging tugboats to tow both parts,” MOL said in a statement.
It said it was seeking to confirm details of containers lost overboard or damaged during the incident.
The 2008-built, 8,110 teu MOL Comfort, owned and operated by MOL on Loop 1 of the G6 alliance’s Asia-north Europe service, was sailing from Singapore to Jeddah at about 0700 hrs local time when the casualty occurred at 012° 33´N, 59° 46´E.
Water pouring into the hold forced the 26 crew to take to the lifeboats. All were rescued by the 2002-built, 7,506 teu containership Yantian Express, owned by Hapag Lloyd and bound for Colombo.
Rao said that having been alerted by Singapore-based MOL’s operations division yesterday, the coastguard diverted ships to the site of the casualty, more than 800 miles west of Mumbai.
He said it was fortunate for the crew that the casualty happened near a busy shipping lane, allowing them to be rescued quickly.
According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, the Bahamas-flagged, 86,692 gt containership was built in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagasaki.
The vessel’s P&I insurance is covered by Japan Shipowners Mutual Protection and it is classed by Japan-based ClassNK.
Responding to questions from sister publication Lloyd’s List, the classification society issued a brief statement, saying it had “set up an investigation team in Tokyo and is working on the incident. The details are yet to be known to us”.
Thanks Jeff - didn’t see your post until after I posted mine.
What the heck does Saudi Arabia export besides oil and jihadis? (Not giving you grief, just curious.)
Thank you for dealing in fact.
It is amazing to me how many ships and containers are lost at sea each year. Though this is a significant event it seems not to be all that infrequent. Ships have rough lives and it is also surprising how relatively short their lives are.
Thanks all. Unless there is contrary evidence, I believe this one can be laid to rest. Still, it was worth posting to find out.