Fire ignites on berthed containership at Sri Lanka's Colombo port

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) reports that a fire ignited and caused an explosion on board a container vessel berthed at the Port of Colombo on Sunday, August 11.

The incident occurred at around 00:30 local time shortly after the Portuguese-flagged MSC Capetown III arrived at berth four of the Port of Colombo's Jaya Container Terminal. The ship had earlier departed Singapore with a cargo of nearly 1,000 containers.

The SLPA said the blaze ignited in the ship's 41/43 hatch area in the vicinity of 100 under-deck containers and 60 on-deck containers. The fire eventually escalated to an explosion.

Responding firefighters were able to pinpoint the location of the blaze and worked to extinguishing it while evacuating the crew and offloading the affected containers.

H.J.K.U. Kumara, SLPA’s Director of Port Operations, said that the vessel showed no prior signs of fire and that the emergency response also involved the harbour master's office and other port services providers.