MOL Comfort wreck breaks its tow

Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) said the weather in the area where hull is located, 17’02”N 67’57”E, remained “adverse” and the tow wire had disconnected from the fore part of the vessel. “We are working on the recovery with three tugboats and will resume the towing in a west-northwest direction once the work is completed,” the company said.

The salvage company is a trying to tow the fore section of the vessel to the Arabian Gulf. MOL said the condition of the fore part was stable and most of the cargo remained onboard.

The 7,041 teu MOL Comfort split in bad weather in the Indian Ocean on 17 June.

The aft section of the vessel sank on 27 June, in water depth of 4,000 m with roughly 1,700 containers onboard. MOL said there was no oil leakage from the wreck or floating containers.

Six sister vessels of the MOL Comfort, all built at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are being taken out of service for hull strengthening.

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