3 sailors missing, 1 hurt as fire breaks out in ship in Arabian Sea

Mumbai, Feb. Feb 13: At least three sailors were missing while one injured crewman was rescued after a fire raged through an offshore supply vessel, Greatship Rohini around 170 kms off Mumbai in the Arabian Sea, here on Saturday.According to an Indian Coast Guard spokesperson, the blaze broke out on the Greatship Rohini around this morning when it was close to the ONGC's Bombay High NQO platform.On getting the information, the ICG diverted an offshore patrol vessel Samarth to the location and a ICG Dornier aircraft flew to the spot for an aerial assessment of the emergency.The ICG ship reached the vicinity of fire-ravaged vessel around 13.30 hrs this afternoon while another ship, MV Albatross-5 pulled out the Greatship Rohini to a safe distance from the NQO ONGC platform rig.ICGS Samarth along with another OSV Priya-27 launched the fire-fighting operations with its advanced External Fire Fighting System and created a boundary cooling to control the spread of the blaze.Owing to excessive heat and some, the Greatship Rohini crew were unable to enter the engine room where the blaze started but an ICGS Samarth team boarded her for further assessment of the situation.The ICG said that while 3 sailors are still missing and believed to be trapped in the ship's blazing engine room, the injured sailor was airlifted by an ONCG helicopter to Mumbai for treatment.Till 2000 hrs on Saturday, the fire-fighting operations were still underway on the Greatship Rohini and the ICGS also dispatched a pollution control vessel to the location, and further details are awaited on the mishap. (IANS)