Kochi | Amidst the firefighting operation aboard the Singapore-flagged cargo ship, which caught fire earlier this week off the Kerala coast en route to Mumbai from Colombo, it was towed farther away from the coastline on Saturday morning, defence sources said.

The vessel -- MV Wan Hai 503 -- has been towed 40 nautical miles away from land. Earlier, the ship was 27 nautical miles from land, they said.

According to a defence statement, the towing operation was initiated with a Seaking helicopter from the Southern Naval Command winching down salvors to shift the tow cables from the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ships to the tug vessels.

"The towing operations have commenced. Due to heavy weather, towing speed is restricted to 1.5 knots," it said.

"ICG Ships Saksham, Samarth, Vikram, and IN Ship Sharda, OSV Triton Liberty are escorting the towing vessels. Towing is being undertaken by Tug Offshore Warrior, Garnett and Water Lily," a defence statement, on social media platform X, said.

"Fire fighting operation continues," it added.

The Singapore-flagged vessel had caught fire after one of the containers aboard it exploded.

On Thursday, the Directorate General of Shipping had said that 40 per cent of the fire had been brought under control.

Of the 22 crew members on board the vessel, 18 were rescued while four remain missing.