A fire has broken out on an MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company container ship off the United Arab Emirates, reportedly killing one crew member.
The 8,034-teu MSC Rita (built 2005) caught fire at an anchorage in the port of Khalifa in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Video footage shot from a helicopter showed three tugs directing water jets onto the superstructure towards the stern.
The National Search & Rescue Center said on Twitter that a medical evacuation mission was carried out for an injured person “during the burning of a ship belonging to the Republic of Panama in the territorial waters of the UAE”.
The seafarer was taken by plane to Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City for treatment.
The Montenegrin news website CDM said the crew member, named only as BS, 48, from Kotor in Montenegro, had died in the accident, as confirmed by his colleagues.
Meither MSC nor the country’s government has yet commented.
The shipowner has been contacted for further information.
AIS data last showed the ship at anchor in Khalifa on 6 June, having arrived from Jebel Ali on 5 June.
CDM reported that a minor explosion in the engine room caused the fire.
The vessel sent a distress call and UAE emergency ships and other merchant vessels in the area provided help.
Insurance cover is provided by NorthStandard in the UK.
Accident in the US
The MSC Rita has never been detained by port state control officials.
Last year, the US Coast Guard and two nearby vessels rescued crew members from a sinking fishing trawler, the 621-gt Tremont (built 1970), after it was involved in a collision with the MSC Rita, 101 km off Chincoteague, Virginia.
The Coast Guard said it received a mayday call from the Tremont reporting a collision. The trawler’s crew said they were abandoning ship.
A safety check in the US in October found the MSC Rita’s hull had been punctured, impairing its seaworthiness.
