MANILA, Philippines – A fire broke out in the main engine room of the Philippine Navy (PN) patrol ship BRP Ramon Alcaraz hours after it left the Port of Cochin, India, for Manila on Thursday night, May 7, the Navy said in a statement on Friday afternoon, May 8.

The ship’s rapid response team was able to put the fire out in 10 minutes. Two Navy sailors suffered second-degree burns, and some equipment were damaged.

The two sailors were “to be airlifted” to a naval hospital in Cochin for “extensive medical attention.”

Naval engineers were assessing the damage to the ship’s main propulsion system to see whether the ship may proceed with its voyage or return to India for repairs.

“This unfortunate incident could have been worse if not for the promptness of our PN personnel in responding to the fire incident. We recognize the gallant efforts of our personnel in responding to the emergency situation in spite of the dangers involved. Rest assured that the safety and welfare of our personnel is of paramount importance,” the Navy said in a statement.

The BRP Ramon Alcaraz was escorting the landing dock ship BRP Davao del Sur, which was ferrying some 20 Filipinos who were stranded in India because of the coronavirus pandemic, and a cargo of 200,000 face masks donated by a Filipino businessman. The face masks were sourced in India.

Both vessels arrived in India on April 29 from Oman, where they were deployed in January supposedly to help repatriate Filipinos from the Middle East. A US airstrike that killed an Iranian military general in Iraq at the time threatened to plunge the region into increased violence.

Tensions in the Middle East have since cooled and a repatriation was unnecessary.

The BRP Ramon Alcaraz is one of 3 Hamilton-class cutters transferred from the US Coast Guard to the Philippine Navy. It was commissioned to the Philippine Fleet in 2013. – Rappler.com