In the early hours of June 14, a cargo ship caught fire and twenty two members present onboard the vessel were rescued.
What happened?
The cargo ship ‘MV SSL Kolkata’ caught fire and its crew members were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard who dispatched dornier aircraft to conduct an aerial survey to determine the extent of the damage.
It was reported that the ship was still on fire and remained adrift heading towards the international maritime boundary line (IMBL) in the Sundarbans delta between India and Bangladesh.
Navy takes charge
Since the vessel was rapidly moving towards the IMBL it caused ecological and national concern among the security agencies.
The Indian Navy specialist team led by its Marine Commandos (MARCOS) from Vizag launched a swift operation to anchor the drifting ship. Despatched by the Eastern Naval Command to anchor the merchant ship which is presently adrift off Sandheads, the specialist team was winched down by a Sea King 42 C helicopter of the navy which took off from the Kalaikunda Air Force Station (AFS) in West Midnapore.
Movement arrested
The MARCOS team and three crew members of SSL Kolkata were winched down and an anchor has been dropped to arrest any further movement of the ill-fated vessel.
Subsequently, the team was safely recovered by the chopper, the entire operation was planned and monitored from Maritime Operations Centre at INS Netaji Subhas under the supervision of Naval Officer In Charge (West Bengal).
Commodore Suprobho K De and his team completed the operation in less than an hour, the Sea King 42 C chopper flew back with the specialist team to Kalaikunda AFS.
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Source: The Asian Age
