Voyage Symphony, with seating capacity of 500 passengers, and vehicle capacity of 800 lane metre, was acquired from Korea recently
In a major scare for over 450 passengers, the recently launched Ro-Pax ferry from Dahej to Ghogha got stuck mid-sea after its engine overheated on Wednesday. The captain decided to switch off the engine following the heat alarm, even as the ferry was brought to the coast using tug boats.
According to officials, the vessel Voyage Symphony was on its way from Dahej to Ghogha with 461 passengers and 95 vehicles onboard this afternoon, when the heat alarm went off.
"The vessel was three nautical miles from Dahej jetty when the alarm went off. The captain switched off the engine as a precautionary measure. Three tug boats were immediately dispatched from Bhavnagar, which towed the vessel to the jetty, where the passengers (safely) disembarked," Mukesh Kumar, vice chairman & CEO of Gujarat Maritime Board, said.
Voyage Symphony, with seating capacity of 500 passengers, and vehicle capacity of 800 lane metre, was acquired from Korea recently.
Chetan Contractor, CMD of Surat-based Indigo Sea Ways, which operates the ferry service, said that engine of the "brand new vessel" had heated up, and it was switched off as per safety protocols.
The passengers were stuck onboard the vessel for more than one-and-a-half hours, but Contractor said that there was no panic.
"The passengers were very calm, and the situation was absolutely normal," he claimed, adding that engineers would inspect the vessel tomorrow to find out the cause of overheating.
Mukesh Kumar said that ferry vessel Indigo One would ply between Ghogha and Dahej in the meantime.
After being delayed by several years, the Ro-Ro ferry service between Dahej and Ghogha was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi on October 22 last year. The service reduced distance between the two places from 360 km to 31 km, and brought down travel time from eight hours to under two hours.
The Ro-Pax service, which allows transfer of passengers and also vehicles, was launched by CM Vijay Rupani on October 28 last month.
Incidentally, one person had died when a tug capsized near Dahej while towing the vessel a day before the service's launch.
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