An explosion occurred on the Singapore-flagged container ship MV Wan Hai 503 off the Kerala coast on Monday, Indian Defence PRO said.

The incident occurred when the ship was approximately 70 nautical miles west of Beypore and 40 nautical miles west of Ezhimala in Kannur.

The ship was expected to reach Mumbai on Tuesday.

"On 09 Jun 25, fire incident reported onboard Singapore-flagged container vessel MV Wan Hai 503 , 78 NM off #Beypore," the Defence PRO Kochi posted on X.

The PRO office said out of the 22 crew, 18 crew have abandoned the ship on boat.

Sharing details on the ship, the office said: "Crew being rescued by CG and IN assets."

"Vessel is presently on fire and adrift," the office said.

Indian Coast Guard Ships Sachet, Arnvesh, Samudra Prahri, Abhinav, Rajdoot and C144 are involved in the rescue operation.

The ship had reportedly left Sri Lankan capital Colombo on June 7.