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Incident reveals the true picture of rescue mechanism installed in Andaman ships Port Blair/ Chennai, Jan 11: A man named Ganesh Kumar employed in the Delhi Police died after struggling for almost an hour after he fell over board MV Nancowry. The incident took place at 1232 Hrs on 6th Jan 2010 when the ship MV Nancowry was on its way to Port Blair from Chennai.
According to eye witnesses, on 6th Jan 2010 an alarm was sounded at 1232 HRS. There was an announcement made which said ‘Man Over Board’. Hearing the announcement, many passengers ran to the deck to check what had gone wrong. The ship was stopped and immediately returned to the spot where the man was floating.
“As the ship reached near, the deck and saloon crew tried their best to throw whatever floating objects they could find in hand but all attempts to reach the man failed”, described a passenger.
“While the man was still afloat, a life raft was lowered into the sea, which carried a nurse and few crew members. But to the surprise of all, the engine of the life raft failed to start inspite of all efforts”, said the passenger.
“It took quite some time for the crew to start the engine and finally when the engine started, the crew found that the life raft was not in a position to move a minimum distance of 15 meters, where the man was struggling for life”.
“The man struggled for almost an hour to float but later he collided with the ship due to the waves and bubbles developed in the sea. This was the last when we saw him alive”, the passenger explained.
Other passenger who had also seen the drama at high sea said, “We later saw the body on the other side of the ship. But instead of trying to recover the body, the ship decided to sail”.
Noticing the plight of the ship’s rescue mechanism, many passengers on board sent a signed letter to the Captain demanding to divert the ship to Port Blair, by cancelling its scheduled trip to Campbell Bay before reaching Port Blair.
“We were so scared and could not sleep till we reached Port Blair Wharf. If this is the kind of rescue mechanism the ship has we are sure very soon there will be a Titanic like situation in the islands”, the terrified passengers explained after reaching Port Blair.
It is learnt that while the rescue mission was on, the weather was quite favourable and there was no dearth of light. Inspite of such favourable conditions, a ship which has a capacity to carry 1200 passengers was not able to save a single soul. The man floated for almost an hour before he died, which is more than sufficient time to rescue any passenger over board. It is further learnt that the Captain after reaching Port Blair had reported that the man went missing, which is ridiculous in itself.
The incident that occurred has raised several questions on the kind of ‘annual passenger survey’ conducted by the MMD where lakhs and crores of money is spent each year. It is high time for the authorities to wake up from their sleep and guarantee that the lives of thousands of passengers are safe while traveling in such ships. |
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