INDIA. Mumbai: In a daredevil sea air coordinated operation amid inclement weather, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ship and a helicopter undertook successful rescue of all 16 crew members from sinking Merchant Vessel “Mangalam” near Revdanda port in Raigad district of Maharashtra, on Thursday.
On early Thursday morning, the MaritimeRescue Coordination Centre (MRCCs) located at Worli in South Central Mumbai, received telephonic information from the Second officer of Indian flagged MV Mangalam (IMO-9084619) intimating that the vessel was partially sinking with 16 crew onboard, around 3 Kms near Revdanda Jetty (Raigad District) in Konkan region.
The master was planning to abandon the vessel and intimated that the crew was in panic due to water ingress. MRCC team pacified the master and crew while requesting them to remain on board as Coast Guard ship was being deployed, Defence spokesman Commander Mehul Karnik told the “Transcontinental Times”.
Soon, the Indian Coast Guard Ship “Subhadra Kumari Chauhan” sailed out from Dighi harbour and proceeded towards the distressed vessel for rendering assistance. Meanwhile, two ICG helicopters were also launched from ICG Air station at Daman for evacuation of the crew from MV Mangalam.
ICGS Subhadra Kumari Chauhan arrived in the vicinity of the distressed vessel at about 1015 hrs and after post-assessment of the situation, lowered her boats for the rescue of crew amid challenging weather situations. Moreover, CG helicopters also arrived at the location and commenced winching of the crew against the vagaries of weather. Through sustained operations, the ICG Search and Rescue Units (SRUs) successfully rescued 16 crew from distressed vessel. The rescued crew were taken to Revdanda and given first aid.
M V Mangalam (IMO: 9084619) is a General Cargo ship built in 1994 and sails under the flag of India. Its carrying capacity is 2873 DWT. Vikram Ispat Ltd is the registered owner of the vessel. She left Mumbai anchorage and reached the Revdanda port, after a voyage of 9 hours, 49 minutes. However, the vessel developed technical snags when it neared Revdanda.
