Ship suffering total blackout mid-sea rectified, safely reaches NMPT

The prompt action by the Indian Coast Guard, Mangaluru saved the blacked-out ship off Kasargod coast. MV JSW Mihirgad was crippled after suffering total electrical failure and Coast Guard flew man and material to rectify the blackout and the ship sailed into New Mangalore Port on Saturday morning under her own propulsion.

Mangaluru: A general cargo vessel that suffered total blackout after her diesel alternators and generator failed was rectified with the help of the Indian Coast Guard and the ship safely entered into New Mangalore Port on Saturday morning. MV JSW Mihirgad, the 122-meter long vessel with a 14 member-crew, suffered electrical failure after all her diesel alternators and the backup generator failed mid-sea. Completely lost her propulsion and all electrical systems, the ship hurriedly dropped the anchor about 4.5 nautical miles of Kasaragod coast on Thursday.

Terrified, the crew made a distress call to the ship owners and the distress call was relayed to Indian Coast Guard Karnataka Headquarters at Mangaluru. Indian Coast Guard's Offshore Patrol Vessel Varaha in the area was deployed to provide assistance to the crippled vessel.

The Coast Guard assessed the situation and realized that assistance through boats was risky due to high swells and inclement weather. So the Coast Guard helicopters were pressed into service. A technical team from Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), makers of the ship, was flown to the crippled ship.

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ICG helicopter airlifted the technical team and gadgets for analysis from Mangaluru and embarked them on the ship even amidst the inclement weather on Friday. The Coast Guard also airdropped food and supplies to the ship's crew since the blackout adding to the propulsion loss resulted in failure of lighting and ventilation, the crew was not able to prepare food or get water through their RO systems.

Indian Coast Guard on Saturday reported that the defect aboard JSW Mihirgad has been rectified by the CSL engineers. 'The vessel safely entered New Mangalore Port on Saturday under her own propulsion,' the Coast Guard tweeted.

The timely action of the Indian Coast Guard has averted a major environmental disaster and saved 14 lives on board the blacked-out ship, Indian Coast Guard authorities said.

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