Written by
Nick Blenkey
Indian Navy launched this picture of Marlin Luanda taken as firefighting efforts continued. [Photo: Indian Navy]
After a protracted battle by its crew and Indian Navy firefighting specialists, the fireplace on the Trafigura-chartered tanker Marlin Luanda has been extinguished. As we reported beforehand, the fireplace broke out in one of many cargo holds when the vessel was struck yesterday by a missile fired from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.
Immediately, Trafigura stated:
“We’re happy to substantiate that each one crew on board the Marlin Luanda are protected and the fireplace within the cargo tank has been absolutely extinguished. The vessel is now crusing in direction of a protected harbor. The crew continues to watch the vessel and cargo carefully.
“We want to acknowledge the distinctive dedication and bravado of the ship’s grasp and crew who managed to manage the fireplace in extremely troublesome circumstances, in addition to the important help supplied by Indian, United States and French Navy vessels to realize this consequence.
“No additional vessels working on behalf of Trafigura are at the moment transiting the Gulf of Aden and we proceed to evaluate fastidiously the dangers concerned in any voyage, together with in respect of safety and security of the crew, along with shipowners and prospects.”
Based on studies, the 11,000 dwt Marlin Luanda was carrying a cargo of naphtha when struck by the Houthi missile and pictures launched on X (previously Twitter) by the Indian and French navies give a sign of the depth of the fireplace earlier than it was introduced beneath management.
WARSHIPS FROM THREE NAVIES RESPOND
Naval vessels responding to the Marlin Luanda included the USS Carney (DDG 64) which earlier that day (Jan.26) had itself been the goal of a Houthi missile which it efficiently shot down. The others have been the French FREMM frigate Alsace and the Indian Navy destroyer INS Visakhapatnam. Ten Indian Navy personnel with specialist fireplace combating gear embarked the tanker and, after six hours of battling the fireplace together with the Marlin Luanda crew of twenty-two Indians and one Bangladeshi, introduced the fireplace beneath management.
The Marshall Islands flagged tanker is managed by London headquartered Oceonix Companies Ltd.
“This insupportable and unlawful assault on maritime transport is the newest on harmless individuals and international commerce,” stated U.Okay. Secretary of Defence, Grant Schapps. “It’s our obligation to guard freedom of navigation within the Crimson Sea and we stay as dedicated to that trigger as ever.”
