Fire-ravaged cargo container MV Mol Comfort finally sank in the Arabian Sea early Thursday, around 430 nautical miles off Mumbai coast, an official said here.
It sank while being towed by Shipping Corp of India tug 'Urja', though the blaze aboard the cargo ship which lasted five days had been extinguished Wednesday.
Several burnt containers and debris of the doomed vessel are strewn around in the vicinity posing a hazard to maritime traffic in the area, an official said.
Accordingly, all ships navigating from there have been warned to exercise extreme caution to avoid any kind of collision with the containers and debris floating in the waters.
The only silver lining to the tragedy is that there is no oil spill reported, warding off dangers to the sea environment, but two vessels have been deployed to look out for any such possibility in the near future.
Indian Coast Guard ship ICG Samudra Prahari, which was rushed Saturday to fight the fire aboard the cargo ship, brought an injured crew member of tug 'Urja' to Mumbai Thursday evening.
Chief Engineer M.D. Naik, 45, had a severed finger Wednesday while attempting to navigate the burning ship in the rough seas.
On June 17, the MV Mol Comfort had broken into two pieces while on a voyage from Singapore to Jeddah, carrying a consignment of 4,500 containers of hazardous substances, around 840 nautical miles west off Mumbai.
In a humanitarian gesture, the ICG had coordinated a rescue effort in the rough high sea and ensured the safety of 14 Filipino and 12 Russian crew members.
