Salvage team from Holland begin operation to rescue tilted Chinese cargo vessel

A team of salvage experts from Holland, which arrived in the port city of Mangalore, began an operation yesterday to rescue the tilted Chinese cargo vessel, which is stranded about four nautical miles off the coast of Tannirbavi in Karnataka.

With 28 crew members on board, the iron ore-laden Chinese freighter Cheng Le Men had left the New Mangalore Port on Thursday only to begin tilting in the sea after sailing for barely a few kilometers.

After the rescue operations launched by the Coast Guard authorities with the help of tug boats were unable to pull the tilting ship to safety, salvage experts had to be summoned from Holland.

The eight-member team of experts called “Switzers”, who arrived in Mangalore on Friday, launched a rescue operation yesterday after holding discussions with the crew members inside the ship.

A decision to summon the salvage experts was taken after the ship, which was carrying 16,100 tonnes of iron ore to China, had tilted by four degrees more to slant at an angle of 16 degrees from its axis on Friday, causing concern among the sailors and the port authorities.

Even as the coast guard helicopters hovered over the tilting ship and the salvage experts began the rescue operation, Deputy Conservator of New Mangalore Port Trust K V Vaswani told reporters that there was no danger to the lives of the 28 crew members on board the Chinese ship in distress. “The ship is not drifting any further and there is no threat to the lives of the crew members”, he said.

According to port officials, the ship had begun tilting probably on account of its inability to bear the load of its merchandise. Faulty loading could also have worsened the situation.

One of the option before the salvage experts was to jettison the cargo on board and try to lower its centre of gravity in an effort to bring it on even keel, Vaswani said. The ship, which is stranded at a distance of about 1,400 metres from the shore, is laden with not only 1,400 tonnes of iron ore, but also 372 tonnes of furnace oil and 60 tonnes of diesel.

Meanwhile, the crew members led by Captain Yang Jing Mu had sent a message to the Coast Guard and the port authorities that they would not abandon the ship till all possible efforts are made to revive the ship. According to international maritime rules, the captain and the crew cannot abandon the ship till all hopes of reviving a sinking ship are given up.

The Chinese cargo vessel is stranded in the waters of Arabian sea off Tannirbavi coast barely half a kilometer away from the spot where the Eritrean ship Den Den sank about three months ago.