Calcutta: A salvage team on Thursday fitted an equipment to the sinking cargo vessel MSL Kolkata, that had run aground off the Sunderbans coast after catching fire on June 13, to draw out its fuel.

Members of the salvage team said the bottom of the ship had entered about three to four metres into the seabed.

MSL Kolkata, which had caught fire while sailing to the city from the Krishnapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh, has four tanks containing 200 tonnes of fuel. The equipment that will drain out the fuel has been fitted to the vessel around two metres under the water surface.

"We will start sucking out the fuel tomorrow. Weather permitting, the entire fuel can be taken out in a week," said a member of the salvage team, which reached the cargo ship aboard Smit Borneo, that has come from Singapore.

The coast guard, which is monitoring the situation, said no oil spill had been reported, though most of the vessel goes under water during high tide.

The salvage vessel took around 20 days to reach MSL Kolkata, now 19km from the Sunderbans coast, from the deep seas. "A region spanning 10 to 15 nautical miles around the affected vessel has not been surveyed. We didn't know the depth of the sea in that region. So, it took us some time to reach the vessel," the member of the salvage team said.

The latest depression over the Bay of Bengal, which turned the sea choppy, further delayed the team.

"Wind was blowing at 40 nautical miles (74km) per hour during the depression, making it difficult for us to even stand on the deck. Along with it there were huge waves," he said.

SSL Kolkata was ferrying 464 containers and had 22 crew members on board when the fire broke out.

The coast guard had rescued all crew members.