Indian Coast Guard helps Lankan Navy douse fire onboard oil tanker, 22 crew members rescued

(Image courtesy: Twitter)

New Delhi: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) continues its effort to help douse fire on an oil tanker 'MT New Diamond' off the east coast of Sri Lanka. 

Twenty-two out of 23 crew members have been rescued since the ICG fire fighting ships assisted in successfully dousing the fire onboard earlier on Friday. While search is underway for one missing crew member, according to the ICG.

Informing about the development, the ICG on its official Twitter handle, wrote: "Concerted joint SAR and Fire Fighting efforts by ICG Ships, SL Navy & tugs resulted in rescue of 22 out of 23 crew safely. Search for 01 missing crew (Filipino) in progress. No oil spill reported in area. 02 Emergency Towing Vessels being deployed by GoI for MTNewDiamond."

Concerted joint #SAR & #FireFighting efforts by ICG Ships, SL Navy & tugs resulted in rescue of 22 out of 23 crew safely. Search for 01 missing crew (Filipino) in progress. No oil spill reported in area. 02 Emergency Towing Vessels being deployed by GoI for #MTNewDiamond. pic.twitter.com/bjqMsQkio9 — Indian Coast Guard (@IndiaCoastGuard) September 4, 2020

Earlier this morning, ICG fire fighting ships successfully doused a fire after assistance was sought by the Sri Lankan Navy following an explosion onboard the oil tanker `MT NewDiamond` 37 nautical miles east off Sri Lanka coast. 

On Thursday (September 3, 2020), the Coast Guard had said that after Sri Lankan Navy sought their assistance for the firefight. Three vessels were rushed to the Central-eastern Sri Lankan coast to help fight a massive fire onboard the Panama-flagged oil tanker.

The ICG mobilised vessels - Shaurya, Sarang and Samudra ‘pehredar’ to assist in fighting the fire. Besides the Coast Guard vessels, a Dornier aircraft too had also been deployed for the operation.

The oil-tanker is located about 36 nautical miles from the Sri Lankan coast. The vessel had been travelling from Kuwait to India when the explosion occurred and a fire broke out in the engine room.

The rescue mission is being jointly conducted by Search and Rescue (SAR) operation, ICG ships, and Sri Lankan Navy, and two emergency towing vessels have been deployed by India.