MT Pavit, an unmanned oil tanker, drifted in the high seas for nearly a month and reached the Mumbai shores near the Juhu beach completely unnoticed.
Increasing coastal security after the 26/11 terror attack has just remained on paper.
MT Pavit, an unmanned oil tanker, drifted in the high seas for nearly a month and reached the Mumbai shores near the Juhu beach completely unnoticed. Strangely, none of the maritime security agencies or shipping traffic management agencies spotted it.
Ever since terrorists used the sea route to reach Mumbai on November 26, 2008, the navy, the coast guard, the maritime wing of the Mumbai Police are supposed to patrol the waters and keep tabs on ships or small vessels entering Indian waters.
After local people spotted the ship and alerted the police on Sunday morning, the coast guard and the navy were informed.
“The ship went unnoticed as it is not possible to search every ship coming towards the coast,” a defence spokesperson said. “Also, the transponder of the ship could have been on and it might have been responding to (Vessel Traffic Monitoring System) VTMS signal.”
The spokesperson appeared defensive when the security lapse was highlighted. “It is not like the agencies did not act upon any intelligence input or information,” he said.
A coast guard official said the Maritime Rescue and Coordination Center (MRCC), Falmouth, received information that the tanker’s engine had failed and that the engine room was flooded around 110 nautical miles from the Ras al Madrakah coast in Oman on June 29.
The MRCC diverted MT Jagpusha, a ship with an India flag, to rescue the 13 crew members of Pavit. The crew were rescued and taken to Sikka port in Gujarat. Naval officials from Thailand informed the ship’s owners in Dubai a day or so later that the ship had sunk off the Yemen coast. No checks were carried out to trace the ship.
“When a manned ship heads for the Indian coast through some of the channels, it alerts the Vessel Traffic Monitoring System (VTMS) of the port trusts,” another senior defence officer said. “Since this ship was unmanned there was no alert to the VTMS and the ship drifted towards the Mumbai shore unnoticed.” The officer, however, evaded a direct reply about the possible security lapse.
Coast guard officials confirmed that the ship has 10 metric tonnes of fuel oil and 10 metric tonnes of gas oil but there is no pollution threat as the vessel has a double bottom.
Officials from the directorate general of shipping have informed the owners. The process of salvaging the grounded ship has begun. An emergency towing vessel, CG Smith Mulba, has been sent to the spot to start towing the ship before it starts drifting again. The coast guard has deployed a ship and an helicopter to monitor Pavit.
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