The city-based Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Monday 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 Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) 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.
“The rescue operation was carried out by MV Yantian crew members in rough seas with wind force ranging from 30 to 35 knots and tides swelling up to six meters,” a senior ICG official said here in the evening.
The ill-fated vessel sank in the same position with containers scattered and oil spill in the area.
The rescued crew members are being taken to Colombo from the mishap-hit site.