Containership ‘Kamala’ On Fire Off Japan

This photo of the MV Kamala shows the fire in the cargo area amidships.

A Liberia-flagged containership is on fire in the East China Sea off the Japanese island of Kuchinoshima.

Japanese media reports say that the containership MV Kamala caught fire early Saturday morning approximately 400 kilometers west of Kuchinoshima, one of the Tokara Islands in Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture.

The Japanese Coast Guard was notified of the incident at approximately 5:30 a.m. Saturday and dispatched assets to assist, reports say.

No injuries have been reported among the 23 crew members. At this point it is unclear if the crew remains with the vessel or if they have been evacuated.

The vessel was sailing from Gresik, Indonesia to Ulsan, South Korea when the fire occurred, according to AIS data.

Photo: MarineTraffic.com/V. Tonic

Fire erupted in containers on board of container ship Kamala shortly after midnight Tokyo time July 11, in East China sea some 220 nm west of Kuchinoshima island, some 110 nm south of Chedju do, Korea. Distress signal was relayed to Japan Coast Guard by a passing vessel. Fire seems to be a major one, judging from photo made by patrol plane at around 0530. Japan rescuers are steaming to burning vessel, crew reportedly remain on board trying to tackle fire. Vessel is en route from Surabaya Indonesia to Ulsan Korea.
Container ship Kamala, IMO 9187320, dwt 29277, capacity 2011 TEU, built 1999, flag Liberia, manager SEACHANGE MARITIME PTE LTD.