India-Sri Lanka Joint Efforts To Douse Fire Onboard Oil Tanker Succeed; 22 Of The 23 Crew Members Rescued

The joint efforts by Indian Navy, Sri Lankan Navy and Indian Coast Guard have succeeded in completely extinguishing the fire onboard an oil tanker off Sri Lanka's eastern waters, reports Economic Times.

The forces managed to extinguish the fire on the Panama-registered oil tanker identified as 'MT New Diamond' carrying 2,70,000 metric tonnes of crude oil from Kuwait to India, nearly 79 hours after the incident was reported.

Meanwhile, as per the details shared by Sri Lankan Navy, though the fire has been completely extinguished, there remains a possibility of recurrence given the high temperature inside the ship, and environmental influences.

MT New Diamond was sailing 38 nautical miles off Sangamankanda Point when it caught fire with an explosion in a boiler in the ship's main engine room. The ship had 23 crew members on board, 18 of whom were Filipino nationals, and five others were Greek nationals.

Following the development, India had dispatched five Coast Guard ships one ship of the Indian Navy to the scene to contain the fire.

By the end of the entire exercise, 22 of the 23 crew members have been saved and rescued off the tanker, while one Filipino sailor lost his life.