Coast Guard rescues drifting vessel in Andaman seas

Port Blair, Aug 2 (UNI) The Coast Guard rescued a distressed vessel 'MV Andaman Fortune', adrift about 30 miles from Port Blair in bad weather, saving precious lives.

The ship was coming here from Kolkata. It was carrying 700 tonnes of construction material and had eleven crew on board. It was drifting since midnight of July 31 due to machinery failure, Commandant Akshay Jain, the Public Relations Officer of Coast Guard in Andaman told UNI today.

The owner of the vessel had tried to retrieve the stranded ship but was not successful owing to strong winds and high swell.

''As a last resort, the owner approached Coast Guard Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre Port Blair for assistance on Thursday,'' the Commandant added.

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