Lanka battles fire aboard vessel

Sri Lanka’s navy was yesterday battling a major fire aboard a massive container ship travelling from Singapore to Egypt.The navy said it had received a distress call on Tuesday when the 14,000-container carrier was about 120 nautical miles (222km) away from Sri Lanka.It dispatched a specialist fire-fighting ship to lead a fleet of smaller vessels out to sea to douse the fire aboard the Panama-registered MSC Daniela.“There are no casualties among the 22-member crew,” spokesman Chaminda Walakuluge said.“An Indian coastguard vessel which was on a port call to Colombo has also joined the firefighting effort.”Walakuluge said the cause of the fire was not known.The vessel has now been guided to a location just north of the Colombo port.