MANGALURU: In a major search and rescue operation, the Indian Coast Guard rescued 46 crew members of Sagar Sampada, an ocean research vessel, after a fire was reported on it on Friday night. Though the ship has suffered damage, all the 46 crew members reached New Mangalore Port safely on Saturday.
Sagar Sampada, a marine life research vessel, with a crew of 30 and a team of 16 scientists, was sailing 40 nautical miles off Mangaluru coast when she made a distress call to the Coast Guard. She was sailing back to her home port at Kochi.“We received the distress message at our Ops Room at 10 pm. On receipt of the information, the Coast Guard District Headquarters-3 diverted an Indian Coast Guard Ship, Vikram, based at New Mangalore Port, from her usual patrol trip.
We also diverted ICGS Sujay, a Paradip port-based coast vessel which was patrolling Karnataka coast to carry out the search and rescue operation,” Coast Guard Commander DIG S S Dasila said. Both the ships reached the site at 12.10 am on Saturday and commenced the fire-fighting operation.
Simultaneously, ICGS Vikram commenced operation to cool the front part of the vessel using external fire-fighting equipment. The joint fire-fighting team entered the accommodation areas, where the fire was reported and cost controlled thee. They also doused the fire by spraying water using water jets through the vessel’s porthole near the affected compartment, Dasila said.
After successfully dousing the fire, the vessel was escorted to New Mangalore Port and berthed safely. The vessel and crew, including the scientists are safe, Dasila said. The commander, along with the medical team, visited the ship and interacted with thecrew members and scientists. He said Coast Guard is ready to handle any situation.