Water ingress in the engine room has been revealed as the cause of a crew evacuation from an MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) container ship off Vietnam.
MSC released a statement on October 2 on the incident aboard its vessel MSC Hermes III last month.
The company said the incident occurred while the vessel was at sea on September 22, and that the evacuation of the vessel was ordered by the master as a precautionary measure.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) had reported that the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Singapore coordinated the rescue of all 25 crew members from the Liberia-registered container vessel on September 22, after receiving a distress alert at about 8.45am (Singapore time).
The vessel was within Singapore’s Maritime Search and Rescue Region, it said, about 300 km east of Vietnam.
MRCC Singapore issued a broadcast requesting vessels in the vicinity to render assistance. Three vessels responded, and MSC RUBY recovered all 25 crew members after they had abandoned MSC HERMES III in a lifeboat.
MSC has now confirmed that water ingress in the engine room was the reason for the precautionary evacuation.
The company said all crew members safely embarked on another MSC vessel and subsequently returned to MSC Hermes III following an assessment of the vessel’s condition.
One crew member sustained a head injury during the process and was taken into care. According to MSC, the seafarer is recovering well.
“One crew member received an injury to the head during the process but was safely taken into care, and is recovering well,” the statement added.
Following tug assistance, MSC Hermes III berthed at Vung Tau port on September 24 for cargo discharge, incident investigation and subsequent repairs.
MSC thanked the Singaporean and Vietnamese emergency services for their assistance during the incident.
According to Marine Traffic data, the MSC Hermes III had left Shanghai on September 16.
