A 140-metre-long container vessel, MTT Singapore, ran aground in the Hooghly river at Pukuria Point near Garchumuk in West Bengal’s Howrah district on Wednesday due to steering failure, a Kolkata port official said.

The vessel carrying 338 containers from Port Kelang in Malaysia was bound for Netaji Subhash Dock under Kolkata Dock System.

The master of the vessel, Edwin Deen Ramas, and 20 crew members, all from the Philippines and Malaysia, are safe. The vessel got stuck at 11.30 am, the official said.

A pilot from Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Kolkata is on board the vessel and tugs from Kolkata and Haldia have been dispatched to pull it free.

The process is expected to be completed by Wednesday night or early Thursday during high tide.

The master of the vessel has been advised to keep the containers properly to ensure that none of them falls into the water.

No oil spill has been reported.

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