Indian Navy ship INS Sujatha today rescued three crew members of the distressed Liberia flagged container vessel MSC ELSA 3, which capsized 38 nautical miles southwest of Kochi this morning. The vessel was en route to Kochi from Vizhinjam near Thiruvananthapuram. The 21 crew members rescued from the vessel yesterday are being brought to the Coast Guard jetty, and three others , including the Captain, are being brought to the Indian Navy jetty in Kochi.
The vessel went down with 640 containers, of which 13 contained hazardous cargo, while 12 had calcium carbide. It was also loaded with 84 metric tonnes of diesel and 367 metric tonnes of furnace oil. The Coast Guard deployed ICG ship Saksham with pollution response equipment and a Dornier aircraft equipped with advanced oil spill detection systems. However, no oil spill has been reported so far.
The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has appealed to the public not to touch or explore any object that fell off the vessel and drifted ashore. People have also been advised not to crowd around any suspicious objects and keep away at least 200 meters away from any such objects found.