'Bridge on fire': Tanker captain's Red Sea missile ordeal

Giant hole opened in ship as its volatile cargo threatened to erupt, endangering lives of crew

Capt Avhilash Rawat was walking along a gangway of the Marlin Luanda as it passed through the Red Sea, when suddenly “the whole ship shook”.

The 40-year-old Indian seafarer had just finished dinner when the "shockwave hit" and he immediately knew "something terrible had happened”, he told The National.

As he went to assess the damage he came across two officers, a seaman and three security guards, coming the other way shouting, "Bridge on fire, we’ve been hit by a missile."

Capt Rawat's calmness and determination over the next 20 hours after the attack by Houthi rebels in Yemen has now been recognised by the International Maritime Organisation, which has awarded him this year’s Exceptional Bravery at Sea Award.

Engulfed with flames

He slowly opened the bridge door and realised the flames were coming from the starboard cargo tanks.

In the tanks were 84,147 tonnes of naphtha, a highly flammable and volatile liquid mixture of hydrocarbons used in industrial processes. Despite the danger of the cargo going up, not to mention another missile attack, Capt Rawat set to work organising a firefighting operation. Speaking at the IMO’s London headquarters before he picked up his award, he described the extreme danger of what he saw.

“I have never seen that kind of fire. It was so huge, so massive,” he said. Flames up to five metres high were licking into the night sky as the deck area around the No 5 starboard cargo tank was "totally engulfed with the fire".

The 63,330-tonne, 249-metre Marlin Luanda is owned by the UK company Trafigura and managed by Suntech Ship Management. It was on its way from Greece to Singapore when it was hit on January 26 this year.

Shipping crews in the Red Sea have been placed in the firing line since assaults on commercial vessels by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels began last November, after the start of the war in Gaza.

Capt Rawat said while he had been briefed to be vigilant about the possibility of an attack by the Houthis, the fact that the cargo and the destination had no connection to Israel led him to believe the ship would not be attacked.

“We were keeping a vigilant and heightened watch when we were hit. But frankly speaking, we had no clue that we were on a target list.”

The immediate matter at hand, though, was bringing the fire under control and ensuring the safety of the 21 Indians and one Bangladeshi under his command.

While the one lifeboat that was undamaged had been prepared in case they needed to get off the ship, Capt Rawat was determined that it was very much a last resort.

“The safest place at sea is the ship. A 250-metre vessel is more safe than a lifeboat of five metres,” he said.

At first, the crew used foam to fight the fire but after about 30 minutes that had run out without making any dent in the ferocity of the flames.

“At that time, I thought, OK, we are in some kind of a problem now,” Capt Rawat said.

The crew, who were trained in firefighting, then began using sea water to tackle the blaze. They “were all calm, focused, and nobody said 'Captain, we should abandon the ship',” said Capt Rawat.

All the while he worked to keep a lid on his own fear and emotions. “I was pretty scared, but I didn't show it to all my other colleagues, because there is a saying that if the captain goes into panic, the whole ship will go into panic,” he said.

“So I tried to control myself, I kept my emotions, and I was very lucky to have a very proficient crew on board. They trusted all my decisions without arguing, and none of them backed out. I’m really proud of them. I’m taking this award on behalf of the whole crew.”

Rescue at sea

As news of the attack emerged, navy ships from the international Red Sea security mission made their way to the Marlin Luanda. First on the scene at about 1am the next day was a French ship, the FS Alsace, with the USS Carney arriving 20 minutes later.

A turning point came when the Indian Navy’s INS Visakhapatnam arrived at 5am carrying professional firefighters, who were able to board the Marlin Luanda and a new plan was devised.

Capt Rawat and his officers had also been welding together metal plates used for maintenance on the ship to make a lid to place on top of the fire and starve it of oxygen.

This was placed where the missile had opened up a five-metre gash in the cargo hold, with seawater pumped through the spaces that were left, helping to finally put out the fire.

Eventually, after about 20 hours, the Marlin Luanda was able to sail to safety under escort and Capt Rawat was able to speak to his wife, Preeti. “She asked me, ‘Are you OK?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, we all are OK, not just me’.”

Trafigura and Suntech have suspended operations sailing through the Red Sea after the attack so he will not have to revisit the scene of the horror.

Capt Rawat, whose home is near Delhi, began his training as a cadet in 2004. He said that the security situation has changed after the surge in Somali piracy, with armed guards now routinely on board ships.

"The world is changing. We don't know what can happen to us in the next moment, even if we are taking all the precautions."

Reflecting on the day the conflict in the Middle East burst into his life, Capt Rawat said they were lucky they were not killed. Others, including the three killed when the True Confidence was struck by a Houthi missile, were less fortunate.

“For innocent civilians like us, who are just normal seafarers, it's heart-breaking. Why we are being attacked, why we should suffer?”