Parked ship catches fire at port trust

A fire broke out on the merchant vessel Khalijia III on Monday afternoon, and was brought under control three hours later.

A fire broke out on the merchant vessel Khalijia III on Monday afternoon, and was brought under control three hours later.

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Khalijia III has been docked at the Mumbai Port Trust, ever since its collision with MV Chitra last year, causing the worse oil spill in the Arabian Sea. Nobody was injured in the incident.

According to the fire brigade officers, they received a call around 4.30pm about a fire near the engine of the scrapped ship.

The fire brigade officers said they were breaking down the ship and while doing so the workers may have been using gas cutters. Sparks from this must have come in contact with the residual oil in the ship.

When contacted, the Sewri police said they were investigating to find out whether there was any negligence on the part of the workers who are scrapping the ship.

"It was an accident due to some residual oil around the area that was being welded. The vessel is being broken down at Darukhanna, so it must have happened during the scraping process,” said director general of Shipping S Agnihotri.