KOCHI: The salvage operations of MSC Elsa 3, which sank into the depths of Arabian Sea off Kerala coast, will begin in August, said sources with the Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) on Friday. Smit Salvage, the new salvage team engaged by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), has submitted an action plan in this regard.
T and T Salvage, which was initially engaged to recover the sunken vessel, stopped operations on June 12, which spread a shadow of uncertainty over the salvage operations. The fishermen community had also raised doubts that MSC was trying to wash its hands of the incident.
However, sources at the Directorate General of Shipping said that though MSC is not the direct owner of Elsa 3, they cannot shrug off the responsibility as there are international conventions regarding such operations. The Liberian-flagged vessel was chartered for operations by MSC, which is a normal practice in the shipping sector.
The Smit Salvage has informed that the salvage operations will be launched in August or when the weather conditions become favourable. They haven’t arrived in Kochi, but have informed the MMD that they will arrive with all support facilities when the turbulence ends. Meanwhile, a team from the MSC shipping company is staying in Kochi. The captain and the crew members of the vessel are also in Kochi. The MMD principal officer, who is investigating the safety lapses behind the incident, has submitted an interim report to the DG Shipping and is waiting for the recovery of the voice data recorder to complete the probe.
Meanwhile, MSC decided to cancel the contract with T and T Salvage as it lacked facilities for the operations. “They were seeking help from the Kochi port and Coast Guard for the operations, which raised doubts that they lack the technical facility to conduct the salvage operations,” said an officer.