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2013-06-19
8,000-TEU MOL Comfort splits in two, sinks off Yemen while Jeddah bound
(HK Shipping Gazette 19 June 2013)

MITSUI OSK Lines (MOL) has reported that its 8,000-TEU MOL Comfort ship built in 2008 has sunk in bad weather in the Indian Ocean 200 nautical miles off Yemen, after its hull split in two.

The crew, 11 Russians, 14 Filipinos and a Ukrainian, are reported safe after being rescued from lifeboats. Some of the 7,041 TEU aboard the Bahamas-flagged vessel were lost overboard or suffered damage, said MOL.

The Bahamas-flagged ship, was sailing from Singapore to Jeddah when the disaster happened. All 26 crew took to lifeboats and were rescued by Hapag-Lloyd's 7,500-TEU Yantian Express, which was in the area.

MOL said in a press release that the damage to the ship is "extensive". The company has set up an emergency control headquarters headed by president Koichi Muto to handle the incident, and is "taking company-wide measures necessary to settle the matter properly".

The ship, formerly known at the APL Russia, rotates through Rotterdam, Hamburg, Southampton, Le Havre, Suez Canal, Singapore, Jeddah, Hong Kong, Kobe, Nagoya, Shimizu and Tokyo.