RAJKOT: Two merchant vessels with at least 43 crew members on board collided in the mid-sea around 12 nautical miles off Okha coast in the Gulf of Kutch on Friday night.
A rescue operation was initiated by the Indian Coast Guard and no loss of life or marine pollution was reported, said coast guard officials.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) said that it was continuously monitoring the area of collision for an oil spill. The collision between oil/chemical tanker MV Atlantic Grace and bulk carrier MV Aviator occurred around 21:30 hours on Friday in the area considered to be a very sensitive marine diversity reserve, the ICG said in a release.
Atlantic Grace, sailing under the flag of Hong Kong, was carrying oil and chemical containers.
ICG ships from Mundra and Okha were deployed in the area to carry out the damage assessment. As the Okha and Dwarka coast have sensitive marine diversity reserves, a pollution control vessel of the coast guard ICGS Samudra Pavak was also pressed into action to assess oil spill, if any, and take preventive measures. A coast guard helicopter also carried out a pollution assessment, sources said.
“Collision betwn MVs Aviator and Atlantic Grace in GoK on 26 November night. No casualties, oil slick reported. @IndianCoastGuard Ships in the area incl. Pollution Control stand-by in vicinity & monitoring the situation,” the Gujarat defence public relations officer had said in a tweet.
Port officials said that no oil spill was reported from any of the merchant ships. “There is no loss of life and there is no report of marine pollution because of this collision,” Niraj Hiravani, port officer, Okha, confirmed to TOI.
Hiravani further added that the two ships will be released after security assessment by the concerned agencies. “Both ships have suffered damages and their assessment is pending. Once the extent of damage is known, it will be repaired and the vessels will be allowed to resume their voyage,” he added. The MV Aviator, sailing under the flag of Marshall Islands, had 22 crew members, all citizens of the Philippines, on board. While all 21 crew members of the MV Atlantic Grace are Indian citizens, sources said.
According to ICG, MV Atlantic Grace had come from Kandla port and was going towards Fujairah port, while MV Aviator had left Kandla port and moving towards the anchorage of Tuna Port in Gulf of Kutch.
