NEW DELHI: A little over a month after the bulk carrier MV Ocean Winner sank off Odisha with 22 of its crew, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Sunday pulled another stricken merchant vessel back from the brink in the state's maritime approaches. This time, all 23 crew members are safe.
The Belize-flagged chemical tanker MT Seagull 9, laden with 9,000 tonnes of palm oil, sent out a distress call around 7.30 am on Sunday after its main engine failed and a ballast tank began flooding rapidly. The vessel was about 37 nautical miles east-southeast of Paradip and was listing "dangerously", the ICG said on Monday.
The Coast Guard rushed its offshore patrol vessel ICGS Vishwast to the spot. A specialist damage-control team boarded the unstable tanker "under challenging conditions" and deployed submersible de-flooding pumps.
Subsequently, the team blanked two damaged seawater pipelines and contained a third fractured line. Working alongside the ship's crew, it carried out cargo-transfer and de-flooding operations simultaneously, "effectively stabilizing the tanker and eliminating the threat of capsizing", the maritime force said.
With 9,000 tonnes of palm oil on board, the Coast Guard also moved to contain the risk of a spill. It diverted a pollution-control vessel and another offshore patrol vessel to the area, while a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft operating from Bhubaneswar flew sorties over the tanker.
A minor palm-oil sheen spotted near the vessel on Sunday was found to have fully dissipated during follow-up sorties on Monday, an official said. The stabilised tanker was subsequently taken under tow by Paradip Port Authority tug Dolphin towards the anchorage off the port. Its main engine is being repaired with assistance from the technical team of ICGS Vishwast.
"ICGS Vishwast, alongside the deployed specialised assets, remains on scene maintaining an active sentinel watch and providing continuous operational support," the official added.
The ICG has not disclosed what caused the ballast tank to flood, the extent of damage to the vessel or its last port of call and destination.
The rescue stands in contrast to the fate of MV Ocean Winner. The Panama-flagged bulk carrier left Paradip on August 20 with about 72,000 tonnes of iron ore fines and sank two days later, roughly 230-240 nautical miles off the Odisha coast.
An Indian Navy P-8I aircraft spotted liferafts and guided the nearby merchant tanker Aisopos to the area. The tanker rescued two Chinese crew members. A week-long search followed, involving Coast Guard ships, Navy aircraft and vessels, merchant ships and two Chinese vessels.
The search yielded an empty lifeboat and an emergency beacon before being called off, with the remaining 22 seafarers presumed dead.
The Coast Guard is India's central coordinating authority for combating oil spills in Indian waters. Paradip has a Tier-I oil-spill response facility and regularly conducts pollution-response exercises involving the Coast Guard, port authorities and state agencies. The most recent regional exercise at the port was held in December last year.
The same port also witnessed a fuel-spill incident earlier in May, when a pipeline carrying petrol from a vessel to an Indian Oil Corporation terminal ruptured and spilled thousands of litres of fuel into nearby water bodies and the sea.
