Andaman Command rescues 9 Indonesian crew

Port Blair, July 27: In an emergency operation Andaman and Nicobar Command has rescued nine crew members of an Indonesian Ocean Going Tug SE Meriam 2, which was in distress from Andaman Sea.

MI-8 helicopters were used to rescue these crew members and during the whole operations a constant vigil was being maintained by the ships and aircraft of ANC, Commander R Srinivas, Senior Staff Officer of Public Relations said today. Srinivas told UNI the Malaysian Tug Unihaul Mabel with the Indonesian crew members on board was towing two dump barges from Singapore to Abu Dhabi. During their journey the tug Unihaul Mabel developed engine problem and started drifting along with its two barges.

On realising that the two barges had drifted on the western shores of Little Andaman, the tug released the towing line to prevent it being dragged into shore.

Subsequently, two tugs, Vesfair 5 and Maha Yoha from Singapore and Sri Lanka respectively came for assistance. However, the efforts turned to be futile and the operations were further hampered by rough seas, the naval Commander added.

One additional Tug SE Mariam 2 from Indonesia arrived to assist in the salvage operations. During early morning yesterday the anchor chain of Tug SE Mariam 2 gave away and the tug ran aground. All the nine crew members managed to jump ashore and were left stranded.

On request by the owner of the shipping agency to rescue the stranded crew members of SE Mariam 2, a MI-8 helicopter of the command was launched.

All the nine Indonesian crew were flown down to Port Blair and handed over to local administration for further formalities, he added.

UNI