'Gratitude to Indian Navy': China cryptically thanks India for rescuing Chinese, Taiwan crew on board

In a social media post, the Chinese Embassy Spokesperson in India has thanked the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard for rescuing mariners in distress, following a ship fire off India's southwestern state of Kerala.

The post was referring to the Singapore-flagged cargo ship MV Wan Hai 503, which continues to witness uncontrollable onboard explosions and fire.

"Of the total 22 crew members on board, 14 are Chinese, including 6 from Taiwan," reads the cryptic part of the post. This is China's attempt to yet again show how they view Taiwan and Taiwan's self-governance, political stance.

The MV Wan Hai 503 was sailing from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Mumbai, India, a maritime route that is along the Western Coast of Sri Lanka and Western Coast of India. The vessel departed Colombo on 6thJune and was estimated to reach Mumbai on 9th June.

"This is a very interesting twist that China is trying to give. China tries to use every situation, including a Humanitarian aid mission to claim its ownership on Taiwan, which is laughable. However, this is a standard trick to shape a narrative that Taiwan has always belonged to China. Therefore, China does not hesitate to even use a critical situation at sea, where lives have been saved irrespective of nationality. Indian Navy and Coast Guard do not look at Nationality when saving lives at sea, nor do they politicize a life-threatening situation," Commodore RS Vasan(Retd), Director General, Chennai Centre for China Studies, and Region Director of National Maritime Foundation, shared his comments with WION.

The Retired Commodore had served in the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.

On Monday, June 9th, while sailing along the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, explosions were reported on the ship's deck, four of its 22 crew were said to be missing.

At 9:30am, Indian authorities were alerted about the evolving maritime distress situation, following which the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy deployed their ships and aircraft.

Given the kind of repeated explosions taking place on the distressed vessel, it is suspected that it has been carrying cargo of explosive nature. Due to the joint efforts of the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard, 18 of the ship's 22 crew have been rescued. The search for the remaining crew continues.

Indian Coast Guard and Naval assets continue to carry out at-sea firefighting to control the blaze and prevent it from spreading further. However, sustained firefighting also poses the risk of tilting the balance of the ablaze ship, due to excess water being sprayed onto it.

Therefore, while the firefighting is underway, the water must also be pumped out of the ablaze ship, to ensure it is not tilted. According to the Indian Coast Guard, the ship is slightly titled to its Port side.

On a boat or ship, the port side is the left side when facing the front. More than a dozen containers from the ship are learnt to have fallen into the water, and the ablaze vessel is adrift. The vessel is reported to be at a considerable distance from the shore.

At around 11:30pm on Monday, INS Surat, a frontline destroyer-class warship of the Indian Navy disembarked the distressed vessel's rescued crew at Mangalore Port, Karnataka. The four crew who remain missing include two Taiwanese Nationals, one Indonesian and one Myanmarese national.

Notably, this is the second major maritime incident off Kerala in two weeks. On May 25th, Liberian-flagged cargo ship had sunken quite close to the Kerala coast, due to unknown reasons.

All 24 crew were rescued, thanks to efforts by the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard. However, there were traces of oil and chemical spill in the aftermath of the ship's sinking.

The Indian Coast Guard also carried out a pollution response activity to minimize its impact. However, there are stray incidents of plastic pellets, shipping container debris washing ashore in Kerala and adjoining Tamil Nadu.