A fire in the cargo hold of a Cosco Shipping Lines containership has forced the vessel to divert to the Sri Lankan port of Colombo.

According to reports, the fire started in the cargo hold as the 10,000-teu Cosco Pacific (built 2008) headed west for India from China.

The Hong Kong-flag vessel was then forced to divert. The Cosco Pacific, which is owned and managed by the China Cosco Shipping containership operator, is currently moored alongside at Colombo International Container Terminal, according to Automatic Identification System (AIS) information.