Panaji: The Indian Coast Guard said that they have maintained sustained operation in extreme weather conditions to ensure safety of MV Maersk Frankfurt and her crew members, which caught fire off-Karwar (Karnataka) coast, last Friday.
The ICG spokesman said that in continuation of ICG efforts to ensure safety of MV Maersk Frankfurt and her crew, alongwith prevention of marine pollution, Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has maintained sustained operation in extreme weather conditions for the fifth day in the Arabian Sea amidst peak of South West monsoon.
“Due to sustained efforts by ICG ships as first responders, major fire has been doused and white smoke is visible with recurrent minor fires due to content inside containers,” the ICG said.
The spokesman said that presently, ICGS Samudra Prahari, a specialised Pollution Control Vessel, and ICGS Sachet, an advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel are combating these small fires .
“Their efforts are augmented by Albattros 5, an OSV charted by the ship managers and Emergency Towing Vessel (ETV) Water Lily, on contract with DG Shipping,” he said.
The spokesman said that the ICG air efforts to undertake aerial assessment are being undertaken on need basis. Considering the grave threat posed to Indian coastline, all endeavors are being made to maintain the vessel away and well clear from the coast into deeper seas.
“The vessel is presently 13 Nautical miles west of New Mangalore and heading towards open sea,” he said.
The ICG has said that the ship managers, M/s Bernhard Schulte Ship Management (Hong Kong) Ltd have contracted M/s SMIT Salvers to undertake salvage operations onboard the distressed vessel. ICG facilitated embarkation of an initial team, comprising 04 members, 01 Indian and 03 Filipino.
“The salvers have requested ICG presence near distressed vessel to combat fire reflash till arrival two Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) from abroad, under their contract,” he said.
“The first vessel is expected to arrive by the evening of July 23 (today) and subsequently the second vessel by July 28.
“The Firefighting onboard container vessels has been one of the major challenges being faced by the global maritime community. Since, fire inside containers require up close intervention to extinguish completely, role of salvage team embarked onboard MV Maersk Frankfurt is critical to sustain the efforts made by Indian Coast Guard,” he added.
