On Saturday, divers from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation made an attempt to find the location of the breach of oil from the sunken wreck of Merchant Vessel (MV) Rak Carrier. There will be another round of diving operations on Sunday depending on the weather conditions.
“Operation is underway to plug the leak from MV Rak Carrier. On Saturday, the divers had tried to locate the breach point on the ship, but had to come back due to poor visibility in the waters,” said Satish B. Agnihotri, director general of shipping.
The visibility was only up to one foot as a result of which nothing concrete was done on Saturday. “Even on Sunday, the same exercise will be carried out,” added Mr Agnihotri.
A source involved with the operation shared, “Depending on the weather and tidal conditions another attempt will be made late on Saturday night.”
As per the plans, the divers will first locate the breach, and then click photographs. Thereafter, measures will be undertaken to plug the leak. Once the leak source is plugged, efforts will begin to pump out the remaining oil from the wreck. Only after this, a call will be taken on whether to salvage the wreck from the water or to leave it as it is.
***
Sand dredged to tow Pavit
age correspondent
Mumbai
Aug. 13: Sand has been dredged in preparation to salvage the grounded vessel Merchant Tanker (MT) Pavit from the shores of the Juhu-Versova Beach. However, the owners have still not signed a formal contract with the salvage company to tow the ship from the beach.
“As the ship has listed or tilted at the beach, we first need to correct its position for which dredging of sand has been done,” said an official requesting anonymity.
According to the plans,
the ship now needs to be turned by 90 degrees and then towed, just like Merchant Vessel Wisdom that had run aground at Juhu Beach.
Although all the equipment and machinery has already been stationed at the Juhu-Versova beach to begin the salvage operations, the owners are yet to sign a contract with the salvage companies.