Navy rescues vessel missing since November 27

A small vessel from Mumbai, which had sailed from the city harbour for Mundra port in Gujarat on November 27 and gone missing, was traced and rescued by Indian Navy on Tuesday.

Captain, Manohar Nambiar, CPRO Defence said, “The crew members had carried very little resources with them as they were not sailing too far. All of them were completely exhausted and immediate medical aid, food and succour was provided by naval officials.”

The motor launch ML Kartiki had sailed from the Mumbai harbour but after that there was no communication with the vessel of port authorities or maritime security agencies. The vessel owner waited for a few days expecting that it might reach the port in a few days but when there was no communication till last week, he alerted the coast guard and navy.

A search operation was launched. The vessel’s identification device was not functioning and the navigation and communication devices could not be reached either. Coast guard and navy vessels, along with air support by Dornier and Chetak, were launched. Finally, the Indian naval commando team Prahar, on Chetak he

licopter, traced it 275 nautical miles west of Mumbai on Tuesday.
Prahar team got down on the vessel and alerted Indian naval warship (INS) Vindhyagiri, which was patrolling offshore and was nearby for assistance.

The vessel’s engine had failed and they had been adrift since November 27. Due to failure of communication devices the four crew members could not alert or seek help from agencies.

“The crew members have been identified as Bolim Ahmad, Dinesh, Madhavan and Ismail. The boat will be handed over to the coast guard who will escort it to Mumbai,” added Nambiar.