Navy ship tows distressed merchant vessel to safety

Visakhapatnam, Aug 4 : Undertaking a rescue mission on the eastern sea board, the Indian Navy responded speedily to the request from a distressed vessel MV Nazish and towed it safely to Port Blair.

INS Rana a frontline destroyer of the Eastern Fleet, while on deployment in the Bay of Bengal, rescued the stricken vessel and towed it to safety over a gruelling three-day ordeal that ended at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

MV Nazish, flying the Indian flag had left Kolkota for Port Blair earlier on July 24. The 3500 tonne ship was about 600 miles east of Visakhapatnam on July 29 when it sought the assistance of Navy.

It had lost all propulsion owing to a technical problem in the engines and was drifting towards Myanmar under the effect of winds and heavy seas.

Despite unfavourable weather and rough seas, INS Rana covered the distance in 27 hours. A Naval Team of one officer and seven sailors had embarked the distressed ship by morning of July 31.

It took all the seamanship skills of the determined team to ensure that the ship was successfully towed for over 370 nautical miles to the safety of Port Blair harbour.

ANI