A wooden dhow vessel, MV Basra II, which plies the Indian Ocean waters, was reduced to a shell by a fire said to have started from the kitchen.The cargo ship was on Sunday, burnt down at Mombasa’s Old Port at 5.30am as it prepared to sail to Kismayo Port in Somali.The 160-tonne vessel’s owner, Mr Hassan Hash, told The Standard that the ship’s goods compartment was laden with mattresses, tea and coffee destined for Somali.He, however, could not immediately establish the exact damage caused but estimated it at millions of shillings.Nine crew members aboard the ship jumped into the water and swam to safety.More destruction was, however, averted when a fisherman spotted fire from the burnt ship and pulled the vessel from two other larger ones, MV Ronja- Zanzibar and MV Clanita, that had docked by its side.An eyewitness, Mr Akhbar Khana, who is also chairman of Old Town Fishermen Society, said it was discouraging that despite the Old Port handling substantial import and export goods, contingency plans for fire fighting were lacking.Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) deployed one of its multipurpose tugboats, MV Kiboko, which is fitted with fire fighting equipment after it became apparent that fire tenders from the authority that had been driven from the main port area could not access the burning vessel.
The tugboat used its heavy jets to put out the fire at 7am, but it was too late.Another tugboat for pollution control, MV Fagio, was also moved to the scene to help clean up the area, which is also a popular fishing and swimming spot for locals.The burnt vessel sunk moments after fire was extinguished.KPA chief harbour master and operations manager, Mr Twalib Khamis, said they were moving fast to forestall any possible oil spills from the vessel.KPA Managing Director, Mr Abdalah Mwaruwa, visited the Old Port area for a briefing after the incident.