Indian Navy anchors burning Merchant Vessel SSL Kolkata at Ganges Delta

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : In a daring and  complex operation, a  Seaking 42 C helicopter from the  Eastern Naval Command  winched down  one Marine Commando (MARCO) officer on an ill-fated merchant vessel SSL Kolkata, which had been on fire for the last two days and abandoned by the 22 crew members on June 14, 2018, off the Sagar Island, at the mouth of the Ganges Delta.

The Marine Commando Officer ascertained the conditions in the forward part of the ship and later called in the helicopter to lower onbord three crew members of the ship. The team managed to drop the starboard anchor from the ship to prevent it from drifting any further. Thereafter, the team prepared the seamanship gear for the ship to be towed, if required.

The live nature of the threat was evident from the explosion onboard in the forenoon which restarted the fire. The chopper skillfully recovered all four members of the team, according to aPIB release.

Earlier, VAdm Karambir Singh , Flag Officer Commanding- in-Chief Eastern Naval Command, had directed that the ship drift towards the Sundarbans delta had to be stopped at all costs notwithstanding the high temperatures onboard to avoid an ecological disaster should the ship capsize on the sandbanks causing pollution from oil on board.

Accordingly, a Seaking 42C helicopter and a Dornier aircraft were despatched from Visakhapatnam  with a core team comprising divers, Marcos, shipwrights and seamanship specialists to stage through the IAF airbase at Kalaikonda. The Naval Officer-in-charge, West Bengal, laised with the officials of the DG Shipping, ICG, KOPT, the ship owners, Agents and Salvage specialists at Kolkata and kept them informed of the plans.

INS Kadmat, which was exercising in the Bay of Bengal on June 15, 2018, was  directed to proceed at best speed and arrived on site on June 16  morning to augment the on site support wherein the ICG ships were also standing by. The operation on June 16 morning successfully managed to arrest further drift of the ship to enable salvage operations by the company.