Cargo ship catches fire off Kerala coast, 4 missing

A Singapore-flagged container ship on its way to Navi Mumbai caught fire off the coast of Kerala on Monday, the Indian Coast Guard said.

While four of the ship’s 22 crew members were missing, the remaining had been rescued, it added. A search operation was underway to rescue the missing persons.

The 18 members of the crew had reportedly jumped into the sea and used emergency rafts to escape the fire that broke out in the middle portion of the ship MV Wan Hai 503, The Hindu quoted officials of the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority as saying.