Accident at sea – MOL Comfort sinks

As has been reported the container vessel MOL Comfort suffered a hull fracture on the 17th of June, and although the ship broke into two parts both remained afloat.

This remained the case for approx two weeks, but then the aft section started to take in water, and sank.

About a week after the stern section sank, the bow half of the ship, which had been under tow from a salvage tug, started to take in water, following a fire that broke out, and it too has now sunk.

All 8000 TEUs that were on board the vessel have been lost.

The cause of the initial hull fracture is still unknown at this time, although an investigation is taking place. As a precaution, MOL are taking all the sister ships out of service for hull modifications, designed to prevent an accident of this type from happening again.

The sister ships are being withdrawn to dry dock as soon as their schedule allows, and will result in reduced capacity during the repair work.