No oil spill and no casualties
A navy warship sustained damages on Sunday after it collided with a merchant vessel in the navigational channel of the Mumbai harbour. INS Vindhyagiri was entering the harbour when the container ship MV Nordlake collided with her. The container ship owned by a Cyprus company, with 24 crew members on board, was held back following the incident.
“There was no oil spill and no casualties,” said a spokesperson for Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, from where MV Nordlake left at 3.40 pm. The collision occurred at 4.36 pm.
However, reports said a fire broke out in the engine room of INS Vindhyagiri as a result of the collision. Firefighting operations continued for several hours thereafter, even after she was moved to the dockyard.
“We are ascertaining how much damage has been caused. Nobody has been reported missing,” said Capt M Nambiar, chief spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence, adding that it was a minor collision.
The collision occurred near the Sunkrock lighthouse within the pilotage area of the channel, and a pilot was on board the container vessel, said JNPT sources. The channel was blocked for about an hour and 15 minutes following the collision.
On August 7 last year, a container vessel and a bulk carrier collided off the Mumbai coast causing an oil spill. The collision of Panama-registered MSC Chitra and the St Kitts-registered MV Khalijia III had led Mumbai Port and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port to be closed for operations for five days while fallen containers were recovered and the channel rendered safe for navigation.
Source: India Express
