Fire breaks out on cargo ship off Goa coast

Pananji, Jul 19 (PTI) A major fire has broken out on a merchant vessel reportedly carrying hazardous cargo about 102 nautical miles southwest of Goa, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) said late Friday evening.

An ICG ship is carrying out firefighting operations while battling inclement weather and rough sea, and two more ICG ships are heading to the spot, an official release said.

The merchant vessel, on its way from Mundra to Colombo, was reportedly carrying "International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) cargo" and explosions have been occurring on its front part, the Coast Guard said.

An ICG Dornier aircraft was also launched for aerial assessment, and the crew which was in panic was reassured of safety by the ICG ship, it said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)