A cable laying vessel and a containership collided with each other in an anchorage just outside the outer limits of the Port of Karachi in Pakistan on Thursday, May 28.
Officials of the Karachi Port Trust said the incident occurred when the UAE-owned and managed cable laying vessel Niwa (pictured) was entering the port just as the Liberia-registered containership Papu was departing the port and headed for Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
The cable layer suffered a hull breach, resulting in water ingress. The containership meanwhile sustained no major damage, though some local media outlets have reported that a number of the vessel's cargo of boxes fell overboard due to the force of the impact.
Tugs that were deployed to the area escorted Niwa to a nearby dock in Karachi while the crew of Papu were instructed to remain in the anchorage.
No injuries have been reported on either vessel involved in the collision.
Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, Pakistani Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs, has assured that operations at the Port of Karachi have not been seriously impacted.
An initial probe suggested that negligence on the part of the masters of the two vessels may have led to the incident.