Product Tanker Ripped Apart by Explosion off Coast of India

A 25-year-old product tanker owned and managed from Hong Kong was ripped apart by a forceful explosion shortly after the vessel completed offloading and departed the Indian port of Kandla. The Directorate General of Shipping and the port authority are reporting that all 21 crewmembers were safely evacuated and brought to the port of Kandla.

The Hong Kong-flagged Fulda (19,477 dwt) had completed the offloading of a cargo of methanol at the Deendayal terminal in Kandla and departed at mid-morning on July 6 for a trip to Oman. The vessel was built in 1999 and is managed by a shipping firm in Hong Kong.

The port authority received a report from another vessel in the anchorage that there had been an explosion aboard the product tanker around 1300 on Sunday afternoon. Two tugs from the port, along with a pollution control vessel, were dispatched, and they found the vessel with a 22-degree list and a large section of the forward deck ripped open. There was no report of a fire or smoke from the vessel.

 

Fuldia is drifting off the coast of India after an explosion ripped open its forward tank (DGS)

 

By 1900, the captain had requested the evacuation of the crew. The media reports that there were 11 Chinese, two from Bangladesh, one from Indonesia, and seven from Myanmar aboard. The tug Orchid Star returned them to port.

The Directorate General reports initial interviews showed the vessel had begun a gas-freeing operation to vent its tanks after the discharge. The authorities are investigating the improper handling of flammable vapors and possibly inadequate flushing and purging of the tanks. They believe a flammable vapor-air mixture had built up in the tanks.

The Fulda is reported to have more than 384 metric tons of fuel aboard. The pollution control vessel was standing by, but so far, there were no reports of a fuel discharge.