THE detached forward section of the 8,000-TEU MOL Comfort, ablaze in the Arabian sea for days after it split in two, sank in 3,000 metres of water despite efforts of fire fighters to save what they could, MOL announced.

"The fore part of the containership MOL Comfort sank in the high seas near 19'56"N 65'25"E (water depth about 3,000 metres) at 19:00 UTC on July 10 (04:00 on July 11 JST)," said the latest of communique from the Japanese shipping giant.

"We have reported this fact to the flag state of Bahamas, Indian authorities and parties concerned. We will keep the salvage team at the scene to monitor if there is any oil leakage and floating containers," said the statement.

The day before an earlier communique said: "Observations show that most of the containers on deck have been burnt out, while we have not been able to confirm the situation in the cargo hold."

Heavy seas were blamed by MOL for the lack of progress in quelling the fire that occurred while the surviving front end of the ship was under tow in the Arabian Sea after the vessel split apart on June 27. Shortly after the ship separated into to two pieces, the crew escaped safely. A few days later the after section, including the wheelhouse, sank.

"A fire broke out from the rear end [of the forward section of the ship] on July 6, and one tug boat and two rescue boats have been responding to the fire. On top of these three boats, the salvage company requested assistance of the Indian Coast Guard for fire fighting equipment, and their patrol boat Samudra Prahhari with her external fire fighting system, arrived at the scene on July 8, and started fire fighting with the others," said the MOL statement.