'Gratitude to Indian Navy': China on rescue of crew aboard fire-hit cargo ship off Kerala coast

The 270m-long Singapore-flagged vessel departed from Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 7. (X/ @IndiaCoastGuard)

China on Tuesday expressed gratitude to the Indian Navy for their “prompt and professional rescue" operations onboard MV WAN HAI 503, which caught fire off the Kerala coast on June 9, while it was on passage from Colombo to Nhava Sheva.

Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in India, Yu Jing, took to X and posted, "On June 9, MV Wan Hai 503 encountered onboard explosion and fire 44 nautical miles off Azhikkal, Kerala. Of the total 22 crew members on board, 14 are Chinese, including 6 from Taiwan. Our gratitude goes to the Indian Navy and the Mumbai Coast Guard for their prompt and professional rescue."

On June 9, MV Wan Hai 503 encountered onboard explosion and fire 44 nautical miles off Azhikkal, Kerala. Of the total 22 crew members on board, 14 are Chinese, including 6 from Taiwan. Our gratitude goes to the Indian Navy @indiannavy and the Mumbai Coast Guard for their prompt https://t.co/3V8vr1xVW9
Yu Jing (@ChinaSpox_India) June 10, 2025

Of the 22 crew members on board the ship, four people are missing, five were injured, while 18 others were rescued. China said it wishes further search operations to be successful, and the injured crew members have a speedy recovery.

The injured crew members were evacuated by INS Surat and brought to the New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA) Coast Guard berth at Panambur. Following this, they were taken to the AJ Hospital in Kuntikana.

The explosion occurred while the vessel was en route from Colombo to Nhava Sheva near Mumbai. The 270m-long Singapore-flagged vessel departed from Sri Lanka on June 7. It experienced an explosion in one of its containers, sparking a massive onboard fire while sailing roughly 70 nautical miles off Kozhikode. The vessel is currently adrift.

This comes as ties between India and China remain sensitive, following the deadly Galwan Valley standoff between the militaries of both the countries in 2020.

A few weeks ago, India also categorically rejected China’s attempts to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh and emphasised that such manoeuvres would not change the reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.