Coast Guard rescues ship, 28 crew near Mumbai

Mumbai: The Coast Guard rescued a merchant ship, saving lives of 28 crew members including six foreigners, off Mumbai coast.

The ship, with with 875 tonnes of fuel, reported flooding on-board, Coast Guard officials said. The UK flagged vessel MV Khalijia-3, fully loaded with 30,000 ton steel coils, was sailing to Mumbai from China when at around 8.45 pm on Sunday the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Mumbai received a call informing flooding on-board, the officials said.

The Coast Guard's fast patrol ship Subhadra Kumari Chauhan was immediately sent with adequate repair facilities, submersible pumps and divers to extend help to the ship, they said.

As the flooded ship tilted to one side at about six nautical miles off Mumbai port, the crew stood on other side when the fast patrol ship reached near the merchant vessel and all 28 crew members including six foreigners were rescued during six-hour rescue operation, they added.

On examination it was found that the flooding was caused due to cracks developed on the ship, they said.

The ship has 800 tons of heavy fuel oil, 60 tons of diesel oil and 15 tons of lub oil, the officials said.

The Coast Guard's specialised pollution response team and advanced offshore patrol vessel with pollution response equipment were also kept on standby to meet the requirement in case of oil spill following the incident. The merchant ship was towed to safer waters, the officials said.