A Shipping Corporation of India (SCI)’s ship, now on lease to the ONGC, caught fire at the Kakinada port in the wee hours of Thursday. As a result, most its accommodation suites and kitchen were completely gutted.
There was no damage of any sort to the sophisticated drilling equipment attached to the ship, according to reports.
Mechanics suddenly found flames coming out of accommodation suites of the ship anchored at the NRW-1 berth of the Kakinada Seaports Limited and fire tenders were immediately pressed into service. The fire men took three hours to put out the fire.
The ONGC was using the ship to carry out oil exploration exercises along the east coast. “A few suites in the ship were completely gutted and the loss will be assessed by the ship builder” said a spokesman of the ONGC.
