India's Kerala state on high alert as vessel with hazardous cargo sinks off its coast

NEW DELHI — India’s southern state of Kerala on Monday issued a high alert along its coastal areas and asked fishermen not to venture near the site of an accident where a container ship carrying hazardous cargo sank off its coast in the Arabian Sea.

The Liberia-flagged MSC ELSA 3 was sailing between the Indian ports of Vizhinjam and Kochi when it sank about 38 nautical miles off Kerala early Sunday. All 24 crew members were rescued, India’s defense ministry said.

The vessel went down with 640 containers, including 13 with an unspecified “hazardous cargo” and 12 containing calcium carbide. It also had 84.44 metric tons of diesel and 367.1 metric tons of furnace oil in its tanks.

The Kerala chief minister’s office on Monday urged people to stay away from some of the containers that began washing ashore. It also advised fishermen not to venture too close to the sunken ship.

Indian Coast Guard on Sunday said it had sent an aircraft with an oil spill detection system to survey the area. It also deployed a ship carrying pollution control equipment to the site of the accident.