MOL Comfort aft part with 1700 boxes sinks in the Indian Ocean
The aft part of the containership MOL Comfort owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) sank in the open sea near 14’26”N 66’26”E (water depth about 4,000m) at 16:48 JST (11:48 Dubai time) on June 27, the shipping company said in a press release.
About 1,700 containers aboard the aft part sank with this section of the vessel. Some are confirmed floating near the site.
About 1,500 metric tons of fuel oil was estimated to be aboard in the tanks of the aft part. No large volume of oil leakage is confirmed at this moment.
MOL has informed the Indian authorities about the fact. Patrol boats in the area are monitoring the situation of oil leakage and floating containers.
The fore part is being stably towed.
Besides, MOL together with shipbuilder, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the classification society (Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, ClassNK), will continue the thorough investigation to find the cause of the MOL Comfort incident, which occurred on June 17 on the Indian Ocean.
MOL said it would take extra preventive measures to identify the cause. “For the six sister vessels that we operate, we have already started the operational precautions to reduce the stress on the hull. These vessels sufficiently fill the safety standard required by ClassNK in compliance to IACS, but we will conduct upgrade works to further strengthen the hull structure at the earliest timing. This will enhance the strength of the hull twice as much as the safety standard mentioned above”.
The vessels will phase-out from the service for the upgrade works and the sailing schedule will be revised accordingly.
