MANGALURU: Coast Guard Mangaluru rescued the crew members of a dredging vessel off New Mangalore Port at the wee hours of Monday.
Dredger Tridevi Prem with 13 crew onboard, owned by Mercator Limited, was anchored within port limits of New Mangalore Port Trust was on a contractual agreement with NMPT for dredging to ensure sufficient depth in channel. The master of vessel had reported flooding in Pump room on 31 Aug 19. Later, it was reported to have been under control on the same day. However, from the evening of 1 Sep 19, the master of vessel again began raising alarm to Coast Guard and NMPT reporting flooding in the same compartment.
A repair team comprising of divers arranged by owner on pursuance of Coast Guard and NMPT, escorted by Deputy Conservator, NMPT himself was embarked on the vessel by a tug. Additionally, ICGS Amartya on safety patrol along the Coast of Karnataka monitored the situation closely. Meanwhile, the Master and local crew members onboard the dredger continued to intimate the authorities using external sources. At around 9.45 pm on Sunday, a distress message was received from the vessel, which was relayed to ICGS Amartya and the ship was directed to reach datum at the earliest to ascertain facts.
ICGS Amartya arrived at distress location in shortest possible time. On establishing communication, it was found that apart from 13 crew members of the ship, 07 members from repair team were present onboard making it a total of 20 lives onboard. On preliminary assessment from outside, the vessel appeared to be stable and no threat to life onboard the vessel was observed. However, the master repeatedly continued expressing his intention of abandoning ship with crew in lifeboat.
As the situation appeared under control, ICGS Amartya advised master to be patient and not to abandon ship. The same was reiterated by NMPT also. However, master insisted on abandoning the ship. The situation was being handled at NMPT Chairman level and the master was advised to speak to company before taking any hasty decision.
ICGS Amartya maintained in close vicinity of the vessel and was in constant communication with the vessel, to give solace to the master that Coast Guard is continuously monitoring the situation to render rescue assistance in case of any eventuality.
Meanwhile, weather in the area deteriorated rapidly with swell height of 2-2.5m and poor visibility in heavy rain. While the situation was being discussed at higher levels; even for possibilities of any oil spillage that may occur due to sinking of ship, the master lowered a lifeboat and 13 crew abandoned the dredger at around 2.30 am on Monday leaving behind the repair team of 07 members. Moreover, before abandoning the ship, she was brought to darken state. ICGS Amartya rushed to the help and rescued all the 13 crew of lifeboat safely in a swift and daring rescue operation braving rough weather conditions and heavy rain. All rescued crew were taken onboard by 3.25 am and provided with food/water. The remaining 07 members of the repair team were rescued by NMPT Tug Ocean Esteem in coordination with ICGS Amartya.
During the rescue operation, ropes of the lifeboat parted due to rough weather and the unmanned lifeboat remained adrift. Since visibility reduced drastically, lifeboat could not be kept in sight. However, as the visibility improved, ICGS Amartya located the lifeboat at around 4.20 am and kept the boat in sight till it was handed over to Pilot vessel of NMPT at around 7.10 am on Monday.
A well-coordinated rescue operation by Coast Guard and NMPT rescued 20 lives in a quick time, stated the release from Coast Guard.