Explosions, fires on cargo ship off India's Kerala coast

KOCHI, India (Reuters) -Multiple explosions and fires erupted on a cargo ship bound for India's financial capital Mumbai on Monday, causing 40 containers to fall into the Arabian Sea and forcing several crew members to jump overboard to escape the flames, officials said.

The Singapore-flagged WAN HAI 503 met with an accident about 144 km (90 miles) off the coast of the southern Indian state of Kerala, said Shekhar Kuriakose, secretary of the state's disaster management authority.

"According to preliminary information ... there were 22 workers on board the ship ... 18 jumped into the sea and are in rescue boats. Efforts are underway to rescue them," he said, adding that the vessel was not "currently sinking".

Pictures and videos shared by the Indian coast guard on X showed a thick plume of black smoke rising from the ship, and some containers lying open and in disarray near the point where the smoke was escaping.

"Vessel is presently on fire and adrift," a defence ministry public relations officer said on X.

Officials did not disclose the nature of the cargo in the containers, nor what caused the explosions.

A container vessel sank in another accident off Kerala last month, releasing 100 cargo containers into the Arabian Sea. The directorate general of shipping said on Friday there were no reports of oil pollution because of that incident.

(Reporting by Jose Devasia. Writing by Sakshi Dayal. Editing by Mark Potter)

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