The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) has reported that one seafarer died after the newly built container ship Maersk Frankfurt (IMO 9969065) suffered an explosion on July 19th that caused a fire while the vessel was in the Arabian Sea near the coast of India, en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The AMP said that “the ship’s operator reports a body in the lashing bridge, but it is impossible to reach it because of the flames. The Indian authorities are focusing their efforts to fight the fire and guarantee the safety of the ship and the crew”.
The fire was reported to have started as a result of a short circuit. Explosions occurred subsequently. The dead seafarer was reported to be from the Philippines.
There were 21 crew members on board, and the vessel was now reported to be in a stable condition.
The Indian Coast Guard anticipated that it would will take several days to extinguish the fire completely. It was continuing to burn inside containers to the fore of the vessel.
The Imabari, Japan-built vessel was delivered only in June. It is owned by Tokei Kaiun of Japan, chartered to Maersk, and managed by a Hong Kong unit of Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, according to Equasis data.
2024-built, Panama-flagged, 57,872 gt Maersk Frankfurt is owned by Leo Ocean / Tokei Kaiun care of Tokei Kaiun Ltd of Imabari, Japan. It is managed by Maersk AS of Copenhagen, Denmark. ISM manager is Bernhard Schulte HKG LP of Hong Kong, China. It is entered with UK Club on behalf of Tokei Kaiun Ltd. As of July 22nd it was off the west coast of India en route from Mundra, India, to Colombo, Sri Lanka, ETA July 22nd.