New Delhi — Hopes for finding a South African and three other crewmembers on Maersk Honam cargo vessel after a fire broke out, are fading said technical officer Palle Laursen.

The Danish shipping company said there were 27 crew members aboard the ship when the fire broke out on Tuesday in the Arabian Sea.

The rescue operation was continuing with an Indian Coast Guard vessel on the site near Agatti Island, about 1,203km (650 nautical miles) from Kochi, an Indian coastal city.

Laursen said the rescued crewmembers were taken to the southern Indian cities of Kochi and Trivandrum and received medical treatment.

A shipping line official says 22 crew members evacuated from a Singapore-flagged cargo ship that caught fire have reached India.

The vessel was en route to the Suez Canal in Egypt from Singapore, when the fire broke out in the cargo hold.

He said in a statement on Friday that an investigation into the cause of the fire is planned.