Porbandar:

The Indian Coast Guard through an aerial operation in the wee hours today rescued 7 crew of a tug boat whose engine went off due to bursting of fuel lines and was drifting in rough sea near Gujarat Coast.

Defence spokesperson Lt Col Manish Ojha in a statement today said that the tug boat MT Jalarak was on passage from Veraval to Sikka (Jamnagar) when it experienced loss of engine power due to burning of fuel line and had no fuel left onboard. It raised distress alert to coast guard headquarters at Porbandar at around 0045hrs past midnight. In the prevailing monsoon weather and rough sea the tug started drifting towards the land south-west of Porbandar harbor which posed a serious danger to the crew. The tugs available at Porbandar port expressed inability to extend any support to the distressed tug due to extreme weather conditions and pitch darkness.

‘In order to mitigate the situation and avoid any loss of life and property, coastguard ship Shoor was made to sail immediately. In the meantime the distressed tug was advised to arrest the drift by anchoring in the position but owing to strong swell and rought sea the anchor cable parted and the tug continued to drift towards shore. ICGS Shoor arrived close to it but could not connect up due to rough sea conditions and its towing mission was aborted though the ship was kept near the distressed tug. With the first light of the day coast guard choppers in SAR configuration were flown from air enclave here. All 7 crew were safely evacuated from the tug which by the time had grounded near Odador,’ he said.

He also said that there was no likelihood of any oil pollution in the area.

DeshGujarat