15 Syrian Mariners in Distress Rescued from their Sinking Cargo Ship

15 Syrian Mariners in Distress Rescued from their Sinking Cargo Ship
Alfie Dsouza, Team Mangalorean. - June 22, 2022 https://www.mangalorean.com/15-syrian-mariners-in-distress-rescued-from-...

Mangaluru: In a swift SAR mission, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) saved the lives of 15 Syrian nationality mariners from a foreign flag ship MV Princess Miral, with a length of 98m and gross tonnage of 5552 carrying 8,000 tonnes of steel coils, which ran aground off New Mangaluru on Tuesday.

The SAR mission was coordinated by ICG ship Vikram and ICG ship Amartya by braving the rough weather conditions. The crew of the grounded vessel abandoned the ship due to a breach in the hull and ingress of water in the holds. The vessel was bound for Lebanon from Malaysia, said DIG S B Venkatesh, commander, Coast Guard, Karnataka.

Commander Venkatesh speaking to Team Mangalorean over the phone said, ” In my 30 plus years in service, this was the darest mission undertaken in rescuing mariners. The successful operation reaffirms the coast guard’ capabilities as a nodal agency for M-SAR. It was a successful operation and seamless coordination of Maritime Search and Rescue in the Indian Search and Rescue Region by ICG units reaffirming capabilities as the nodal agency for M-SAR in the Indian Ocean region”.

. As per the police commissioner Shashi Kumar, all the 15 mariners presently are at the Coast Guard base in Panambur, and on Wednesday (Today) morning they will be handed over to Panambur police station for further investigation/action, if needed. It is learnt that the ship sailing under the flag of Belize, was scheduled to reach Suez Port in Egypt on 3 July 2022, which had set sail from Tianjin Anch Port in China on 1 May 2022.