Indian Navy helps Norwegian ship in Gulf of Aden

Mumbai: The Indian Navy helped a Norwegian ship manned by an all Indian crew, to retrieve its cable chain and port anchor that had slipped into the Arabian Sea in the piracy infested waters of the Gulf of Aden, an official said here on Wednesday.

Some three days ago, on getting a distress call from the Combined Task Force aircraft for assistance, the INS Teg, a warship of Western Naval Command was despatched to the spot to help retrieve M.V. Vela's 330 metres long cable chain and port anchor weighing a staggering 42 tonnes that had slipped into the sea.

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Following the slip, the ship was severely disabled -- with her speed restricted to five-six knots, making her vulnerable to attacks by pirates in that region. Besides it also posed a serious navigational hazard to itself and other vessels in the dense commercial shipping corridor.

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As soon as the distress call was received, the INS Teg mobilised its specialists team which quickly assessed the situation and launched a massive operation to recover the hanging anchor and chain cable of the M.V. Vela, owned by Seven Sea SA, Norway and Fleet Management Ltd. Hong Kong.

Led by the vessel's Engineering Officer, Seamanship Instructor, Anchor Chain Cable Specialist and Machinery Specialist among others, the team took more than three days to safely recover the entire cable and the hanging port anchor.

After this, M.V. Vela resumed its onward voyage, subsequently through the constricted waters of Red Sea and Suez Canal, and also managed to avert huge financial losses.

The Norwegian owners of the vessel gratefully acknowledged Indian Navy's help and contribution in the operations, terming it as "conforming to the best maritime traditions, worth emulating by other mariners".

IANS