The
passenger vessel of the Andaman administration with 350 passengers which got
grounded near Campbell bay off Car Nicobar islands after it hit a boulder
suffered minor damages in the internal pipelines in the ship and has since started
moving towards Port Blair.
Earlier
it was suspected that the boulders had damaged the hull of the ship which meant
ship needed to be abandoned for major repairs. Since the damage was of a minor
nature, the vessel proceeded to Port Blair on august third. The vessel was on
inter-island service between Port Blair and Nancowry when the incident took
place. After the accident, five feet of water gushed into the vessel. Submersible
pumps were pressed into service to draw out the water from the ship and the
vessel got stabilized..
After
the fault in the internal pipelines of the ship were rectified the vessel with
350 passengers and crew left for Port Blair and is expected to reach the state
capital on August fifth.
The
19 year old vessel is owned and operated by the Andaman state administration.
Apart from undertaking inter island transfers, the ship carries passengers from
Chennai to Port Blair. The vessels plying to Andaman Islands from Chennai and
Kolkata are over two decades old. The voyage between Chennai and Port Blair
which used to be completed in three days now takes four days.
Andaman
administration sources say it is time that the government buys new ships and
operate them in this sector since supplies from the mainland to Andaman Islands
is crucial for the country’s security.
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