The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has pressed its specialised fire-fighting vessel Samudra Prahari to battle the blaze that engulfed the fore of MV MOl Comfort off the Mumbai coast, en route to Oman.
Responding to an alert from salvour Messrs Smit International of Singapore that the containers on-board derelict MV MOl Comfort, while being towed by Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) tug Urja to Port Sohar in Oman, caught fire in Arabian Sea on Sunday, the ICG rushed Samudra Prahari to extinguish the blaze.
Having deployed an aircraft to carry out an reconnaissance of the mishap site, the ICG pressed Samudra Prahari into action for ‘neutralising the fire on MV MOl Comfort.’
By Monday evening, Samudra Prahari managed to bring the blaze under control by ‘spraying water through water cannons.’ “Currently, the derelict vessel is around 356 nautical miles west off Mumbai coast,” a senior ICG official said.
ICG officials from the spot have reported thick black smoke emanating from the derelict vessel. The senior SCI-ICG officials and other stake holders are monitoring the situation round-the-clock.
The ICG’s Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC), it may be recalled, had on June 17 coordinated a daring mid-sea operation, in which 26 crew members — 12 Russians and 14 Filipinos — were rescued from a mishap-hit 316 metre-long merchant vessel MV Mol Comfort carrying 4,500 containers, 840 nautical miles off the Mumbai coast.
The ICG had pulled off the rescue mission successfully after the hull of MV Mol Comfort broke into two halves when the vessel was on its way from Singapore to Jeddah.
The crew made it on to the two life-rafts, with one life boat located in Yemen SRR (Search and Rescue Region) ie., 840 nautical miles away from Mumbai.
Till its counterpart based in Yemen assumed the coordination, the MRCC, Mumbai, diverted three ships in the Indsar plot — MV Hanjin Bejing, MV Jim India and MC Yantian Express. MV Yantian, being the closest and on the scene, carried out the rescue of all the 26 crew from the ill-
fated ship.