Abandoned ship sinks off Saurashtra coast, crew rescued

Rajkot, May 27 (UNI) Eleven crew members of a ship MV Maryam Trans that sank yesterday about 15 nautical miles southwest off the coast near Porbander, have been rescued.

The ship, registered at Freetown (Sierra Leone), had remained adrift off Gujarat coast since May 21 after being abandoned by the crew and sank due to a technical snag. The crew was rescued by another merchant vessel on May 21 in high seas.

The vessel was originally headed for Alang shipyard for breaking and had sailed from Dubai on an unascertained date.

Indian Coast Guard (ICG) aircraft and ships, ICGS Tarabai and ICGS Meera Behn, were continuously monitoring the movement of the abandoned ship ever since distress messages were received by the ICG since May 21, and subsequently upon its straying perilously close to the Gujarat coastline since May 24.

The continuous monitoring of the vessel was necessitated to decide further course of action.

Since the lifting vessel continued to pose serious threat to the strategically important and environmentally sensitive coastline of Saurashtra, the ICG ships and aircraft spared no efforts in retrieving the ill-fated vessel.

But the heavy list, compounded by severe rolling of the vessel due to rough seas, made all attempts at boarding the ship extremely difficult. An effort to winch down ICG personnel onboard the vessel had to be abandoned due to safety considerations.

The towing of the vessel was also not feasible due to the heavy list and poor material conditions onboard the vessel.

At present the Coast Guard is closely monitoring any oil-spill that may emanate from the sunken vessel. The exact quantity and nature of the fuel onboard the vessel at the time of sinking is not known. However, the ICG is prepared to deal with any contingency and continues to patrol and monitor the situation.

UNI