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Three seafarers have been airlifted to safety following an explosion in an MSC container vessel engine room.

The incident occurred on 21 June in the engine room of the MSC RACHELE (Voyage: IX218R), deployed on MSC’s Indus 2 service, while the ship was en-route from Naples, Italy to Fos-sur-Mer, France.

Today container ship MSC Rachele (Panama flagged) suffered an explosion in its engine room, injuring 3 crewmembers 20 nautical miles South of Toulon. ➡️ @Premarmed @Cecmed_Off @MarineNationale dispatched two helicopters (Dauphin + NH-90) as well as Mistral-class LHD Tonnerre pic.twitter.com/MPZDFqqDzN

The vessel has been towed to Fos-sur-Mer, France, where the condition of the ship will be assessed.

Three seafarers were injured in the incident and have been evacuated by helicopters for medical care.

Preliminary reports indicate that there has been no damage to the containers onboard. MSC has informed affected customers with cargo onboard about the vessel incident and will keep them updated about the future movements of the vessel and its cargo.

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