Ultra Large Container Ship MAERSK HONAM major fire UPDATE Mar 8





Update morning Mar 8:
One of rescued 23 crew, of Thai nationality, died of injures on Mar 7, said Maersk Line, whose website as of 0500 UTC, was up and down sporadically.
A bunch of photos sent to me by MB visitor (understood taken by Indian Coast Guard and Navy), shows burning MAERSK HONAM – fire is raging in fore section from forecastle to it seems, superstructure, with most part of the ship remaining intact.
Most probably, fire won’t spread further aft beyond superstructure, which isn’t yet on fire or devastated by fire, simply because AIS is still working – latest AIS position at 0100 UTC Mar 8 was in 10 05N 065 37E.
Three container ships are nearby, no salvage ships around yet. If fire wouldn’t spread aft and hull will hold on, most probably, salvors will try to tow her by aft to some coastal area. Weather is fine.

Update Mar 7: Not much new information appeared as of late Mar 7. According to Indian Coast Guard officials, there was a huge explosion, followed by major fire, which sprang up to ship’s bridge, some 25 meters high. Maersk Line said fire started in cargo hold, not on deck. There are no new, daylight photos, for assessment and analysis.
One MB visitor in comment revealed 4 missing crew nationalities: 3 Filipino and 1 Indian.
On a pic MAERSK HONAM position as of 1700 UTC Mar 7, the ship is drifting in southern direction.
Initial news:
Major fire erupted on board of ULCS MAERSK HONAM on Mar 6 in Arabian sea, the most detailed report was issued by Maersk Like in a Statement:
Serious fire on Maersk Line container vessel in the Arabian Sea
Published on 07 March 2018
Tuesday 6 March 2018 at 15:20 GMT, the Maersk liner vessel MAERSK HONAM reported a serious fire in a cargo hold. Enroute from Singapore towards Suez, the vessel is currently positioned around 900 nautical miles southeast of Salalah, Oman. After being unsuccessful in their firefighting efforts, the crew sent out a distress signal and a total of 23 crew members were safely evacuated to the nearby vessel ALS CERES (IMO , which arrived at the scene around 18:30 GMT. Regrettably, four crew members remain missing. The fire onboard the Maersk Honam continues and the situation of the vessel is very critical.
The container vessels MSC Lauren, Edith Mærsk and Gerd Mærsk, all enroute in the Arabian Sea, have diverted their routes and are approaching the area with expected arrivals in the early morning Wednesday 7 March local time. Weather conditions in the area are currently fair.
“The evacuated crew is obviously distressed, with two crew members currently receiving medical first aid onboard the ALS Ceres.
The nationalities of the 27 crew members are: India (13), the Phillipines (9), Romania (1), South Africa (1), Thailand (2) and the United Kingdom (1).
The vessel is carrying 7860 containers. All impacted customers will be contacted directly.
My Article on mega container ships risks, predicting major fires: Mega threat of mega container ships
Container ship MAERSK HONAM, IMO 9784271, dwt 125621, capacity 15282 TEU, built 2017, flag Singapore.




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My name is Mikhail Voytenko, I’m Russian, professional merchant marine navigator, by education and former experience. I own and run Maritime Bulletin website for more than 10 years. I've been involved in solving a number of piracy hijack cases, including the hijack of ro-ro FAINA, loaded with tanks. It was me who made public, and unravel, freighter ARCTIC SEA mystery. I've been also closely involved in a number of maritime disaster, one of them being MSC FLAMINIA major fire.

Maritime and Crimean Shipping News


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