Coast Guard rescues 16 mariners from Bay of Bengal

Port Blair, June 26: The Indian Coast Guard has rescued 16 crew members of a wrecked ship M V John Richardson from the Bay of Bengal, Coast Guard officials said today.

Based on a distress alert received from the ship close to North Andaman Islands, the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Committee (MRCC, Port Blair) of Coast Guard in co-ordination with Indian Coast Guard Ship Varad and Indian Coast Guard Dornier aircraft saved the lives of 16 crew members, many of them were from the islands, Coast Guard PRO Commandant Akshay Jain told sources today.

MV John Richardson after being at anchorage in Port Blair harbour for over a year had set sail for Chennai on June 15 with 16 crew members, unsure of the likely weather en-route and machinery state onboard.

The vessel being very old was bound for Chennai for ship breaking as it could no longer be used for sea voyages. It also did not have adequate communication facility on board except for short range VHF Radio set, Com Jain said.

He added that the ship remained adrift due to engine failure since June 17, 2007, with no communication with outside world and finally raised a distress alert on June 21 through satellite system, which was picked up by ISRO's Indian Mission Control Centre at Bangalore, who inter-communicated the same to Indian Coast Guard Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre Port Blair, as the position of the vessel was close to the islands.

CG Dornier located the vessel about 100 Kms due west from nearest Interview Island.

The vessel had developed five holes in its underwater hull and was taking in about 300 tons of sea water per hour.

Coast Guard Ship Varad, which had sailed from here at high speed, facing unfavourable conditions, arrived near the vessel in the wee hours of June 23.

Coast Guard aircraft are keeping a vigil on the distressed vessel, which is at present anchored above 40 Kms from the Interview Island.

However, the owner of the vessel had been served notice by Coast Guard Regional Headquarters under the Merchant Shipping Act as the vessel poses potential threat to the marine and coastal environment of our ecologically sensitive Islands and had been directed to salvage the vessel without any further delay.

The vessel has approximately 22 KL of high speed diesel on board.

As per reports that last came in, the owner was engaging a salvage tug from Chennai to bring the vessel safely to Port Blair, Com Jain said.

UNI