Karnataka: Nine onboard stranded in a tug near Mulki

MANGALURU: Nine crew members onboard the tug vessel Coramandel that is stranded about a mile from Mulki shore are in distress since Sunday. The State government has reached out to the Indian Navy, Goa and if the weather permits the crew are expected to be airlifted at the earliest, even as the Indian Coast Guard is monitoring the situation closely.
Deputy Commissioner Dr KV Rajendra told reporters that the tug vessel’s contract with NMPT ended six months ago and it drifted away from the anchorage. It is stranded near rocks in Mulki. Indian Coast Guard’s vessel Varaha is monitoring the boat closely amid high waves of 5 to 6 feet. The tug crew are wearing life jackets and are safe and have enough essentials onboard. Meanwhile, a video of the distressed crew seeking help with the rough sea in the background has gone viral.
2 dead, 3 missing
Three crew members of the tug Alliance that capsized are missing. The tug belongs to Underwater Services Company Ltd and assists MRPL under a contract to facilitate Single Point Mooring (SPM) operations whenever crude cargo arrives through Ships. On Friday, it had performed a similar duty to unload cargo from one such ship and was supposed to return the same day. However, it started to move towards port after due clearance on Saturday and underwent distress upon approaching port facilities, about 10 nautical miles off Mangaluru coast. Three have survived by reaching shore using safety tubes have been shifted to a hospital, two died and their bodies have been recovered from Yermal and Padubdiri. The search for three others is on.
The deceased has been identified as Hemkant Jha from Visakhapatnam and Zibanul Haque Mondal from West Bengal. The tug contractor is planning to lift the capsized tug weighing 165 tons located near Padubidri.
The contractor clarified that a vessel with 1.40 lakh MT of crude oil was anchored at SMP on May 13. The ill-fated tug left NMPT around 3 am on May 13 and the process began at 7 am and was completed on May 14 evening. It takes around 36 hours to complete the process. The crude oil ship is probably the last biggest vessel to arrive at the SMP this season and no ship with more than 90,000 MT will be called till September 15 due to the monsoon.
Report sought
Dr K V Rajendra said he will seek a report from NMPT and MRPL on why the Alliance tug sailed to SPM despite cyclone warning and why Coramandel was anchored at NMPT after its contract ended.