Last month, Mediterranean Shipping Companies’ 13,798 TEU MSC Daniela caught fire off Colombo harbor, Sri Lanka. The ship was traveling from Singapore and was forced to reroute to Colombo once a single container burst into flames, quickly spreading to nearby containers. There were 22 crew members onboard who initiated emergency procedures in an attempt to control the fire while they awaited assistance. Sri Lankan and Indian vessels fought the fire for more than 12 hours and some cargo continued to smolder for two weeks following the initial blaze.
All containers have been unloaded from the ship and inspectors are searching for the cause of the fire and closely inspecting all cargo from the damaged containers. Now that the ship is empty, shipping operators have begun assessing the ship for damage as well.
“Operations to unload the containers are ongoing as is the inspection to ascertain the full extent of the damage”, told the spokesperson of MSC to online edition Splash247. “At the present moment, it is not clear exactly what caused the fire. We believe it could be due to a misdeclaration of hazardous cargo”, added the MSC representative.
Here is a collection of some of the most shocking images from the MSC Daniela Fire.
Sources: news.navy.lk, maritimeherald.com, splash247.com
