Coast Guards to get advanced ships for Andaman region

Port Blair, Nov 18: The Coast Guard (CG) unit in Andaman and Nicobar Islands will soon be equipped with some new and hi-tech vessels, Inspector General of CG S P Sharma said today.

Mr Sharma told to the source here that an Interceptor vessel, which was ready for delivery, will join the CG by December while one state-of- the-art Advance Foreshore Patrolling Vessel will arrive in the region during the next year.

The IG said of the three Pollution Control Vessels, which will be acquired by Indian Coast Guard, one will be sent to these remote islands.

The CG had acquired enough land at Mayabunder for establishing a base while two more bases in Hut Bay and Kamorta Islands will also come up soon to deal with poaching and other illegal activities in Andaman Sea, he added.

Earlier on Thursday and Friday, the CG conducted a two-day maritime multi-agency search and rescue (SAR) exercise (SAREX-07) in the Sea to test its operational plans for responding to an 'emergency' involving a passenger ship.

During the drill, all the rescue agencies that are part of the Coast Guard-led National Maritime SAR Coordinating Authority (NMSARCA) 'responded to the hypothetical emergency scenario'.

UNI