Coast Guard monitoring agrounded Vietnamese ship at Car Nicobar

Port Blair, Oct 5 (UNI) The Indian Coast Guard is constantly monitoring the foreign cargo liner, Vien Dong-II, which ran a ground near the Sawai Bay in Car Nicobar on September 30.

The Vietnam-bound 108 metre long vessel started from Haldia Port and was passing through Indian waters.

''In a bid to rectify a technical snag, the captain halted the vessel near Car Nicobar harbour and while on the course of anchoring the ship tilted to one side,''Andaman and Nicobar Coast Guard Inspector General Satya Prakash Sharma told newspersons here today.

IG Sharma said the vessel is loaded with 270 tons of high-speed diesel and 7000 tons of iron ore.

''We are happy that the captain of the vessel has already contacted the firms at mainland for the salvage of the vessel and the owner have shown interest too,'' he added.

The Coast Guard of Andaman and Nicobar region on Tuesday had rescued 26 crew of a Chinese ship, MV Heng Tai, which sank 200 miles east off Port Blair.

''We are sending our Dornier aircraft to monitor the situation.

Luckily the oil tank is above the sea level so there is no immediate threat of oil spilling out,'' the Inspector General informed.

UNI