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The Indian Coast Guard has averted a potentially serious maritime emergency off the Odisha coast after a Belize-flagged tanker developed rapid flooding and began tilting dangerously, in a real-time response that comes less than two weeks before the National Maritime Search and Rescue Exercise (SAREX-26) off Paradip.
The MT Seagull 9, carrying 9,000 tonnes of palm oil and 23 crew members, issued a distress call at about 7.30 am on September 27 after a main-engine failure was followed by rapid flooding of its ballast tanks. The vessel was located about 37 nautical miles east-southeast of Paradip.
The Coast Guard immediately deployed ICGS Vishwast to the scene. A specialist damage-control team boarded the unstable tanker and began emergency de-flooding operations using submersible pumps and other equipment.
The team arrested the ingress of seawater by blanking two damaged seawater pipelines and containing a third fractured line, according to the Coast Guard Spokesperson. De-flooding and cargo-transfer operations were conducted simultaneously, allowing the vessel to regain stability and removing the immediate threat of capsizing.
The Coast Guard subsequently deployed a Pollution Control Vessel and another Offshore Patrol Vessel to reinforce the response and maintain round-the-clock monitoring of the tanker.
Coast Guard Dornier aircraft operating from Bhubaneswar also maintained aerial surveillance of the vessel and the surrounding waters. A minor palm-oil sheen detected near the tanker on September 27 was found to have dissipated during follow-up aerial sorties on September 28.
With the tanker stabilised, Paradip Port Authority tug Dolphin took MT Seagull 9 under tow towards the anchorage off Paradip. Repairs to its main engine are underway with technical assistance from the Coast Guard.
ICGS Vishwast and the other Coast Guard assets remain deployed in the area to monitor the vessel and respond to any further requirement.
The incident comes as the Coast Guard prepares to conduct SAREX-26 off Paradip on October 8, bringing together maritime agencies and other stakeholders for a coordinated search-and-rescue exercise.
While the tanker operation was an actual emergency response and not part of SAREX-26, the incident provided a live demonstration of the kind of rapid detection, deployment, damage control, towing and pollution-response capabilities that underpin India’s maritime search-and-rescue architecture, the Spokesperson observed.
Team BharatShakti
