Almost two days after merchant vessel SSL Kolkata caught fire and was drifting amid high seas, the Eastern Naval Command on Saturday prevented the ship from drifting any further by dropping the starboard anchor.
The salvage of the ship, which was drifting towards Bangladesh, was performed in a “daring and complex operation” when a Seaking 42 C helicopter from the Eastern Naval Command winched down one Marine Commando Officer on the vessel.
Conditioned ascertained
“The Marine Commando Officer ascertained the conditions in the forward part of the ship and later called in the helicopter to lower three crew members of the ship. The team managed to drop the starboard anchor from the ship to prevent her from drifting any further,” said a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence in Kolkata.
The vessel with 464 containers was bound for Kolkata from Krishnapatnam when it caught fire on June 13 forcing all 22 crew members to abandon the ship off the Sagar Island.
In Saturday’s operations, along with the Seaking helicopter, a Dornier aircraft from Visakhapanam with a core team comprising divers, Marcos and specialists were operating from the Indian Air Force airbase at Kalaikonda.
“The Marcos team tried to enter the engine room to guide the vessel to deeper waters. However, explosions were heard on the deck and we decided it was not safe for the team to continue the operations,” the spokesperson of the Eastern Naval Command said.
The helicopter recovered all four members of the team and returned to Kaliakonda.
Preventing the drift of the vessel towards the Sundarbans delta was crucial, given the potential ecological disaster if the ship capsized on the sandbanks of the protected forests, causing pollution from oil on board.