Underwater salvage work begins on sunken containership MSC Elsa 3 off India

India's Directorate General of Shipping has confirmed that the salvage operation has begun on the Liberian-flagged container vessel MSC Elsa 3, which sank off the coast of Kerala late last month.

Officials said the objective of the salvage effort will be to prevent the oil in the ship's fuel tanks from leaking further into the surrounding waters.

A dive support vessel with 12 embarked divers, a decompression system and remotely operated vehicles has been deployed to the wreck site. The divers will first identify openings in the ship's fuel tanks, which will then be capped to prevent continued leakage.

The second phase of the salvage operation is scheduled to start in July after the end of the current monsoon season. However, officials have expressed concern that the timeline may still be negatively impacted by the weather.

Efforts are also underway to remove some of MSC Elsa 3's containers that have washed up on a number of beaches in Kerala. Officials said that around 50 containers have already been removed from the shoreline while others in the water are still being recovered.

A disaster response official had earlier said that the beached containers had no hazardous substances, though a number were laden with glass, cotton, and green tea.