MV Maharshi Krishnatrya
Update: The Times of India has reported that the five sailors died of asphyxiation as a result of the gas leak.
Original: Five crew members of an Indian-flagged LPG carrier were killed Monday morning while working to repair a damaged pipe in the vessel’s compressor room, according to the Indian news site, The Asian Age.
The news site reports that a gas leak and “explosion” rocked the MV Maharshi Krishnatreya at approximately 10:30 am while sailing about 220 nautical miles off the coast of Mumbai, killing five crew members and injuring one other.
“At about 10:45 am today, the Indian Navy at Mumbai received a call from Varun Shipping Company regarding six casualties on board MV Maharshi Krishnatreya,” a spokesperson for India’s defense department told reporters in Mumbai. The spokesman added that a Sea King MK 42C helicopter was sent to evacuate the one injured sailor and a nearby vessel belonging to the Indian Navy provided assistance on scene.
It is unclear at this point if the sailors were killed as a result of an “explosion” or if they had suffocated from a gas leak while working inside a confined space.
The MV Maharshi Krishnatreya is a 36,160 dwt LPG carrier owned by Varun Shipping Company and was built in 1991 at Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea. The vessel was enroute to the UAE and was about 140 nautical miles southwest of Porbandar and 220 nautical miles from Mumbai when the incident occurred.
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