MT Pavit crew to be summoned to identify vessel

Office of the DG Shipping had initiated an inquiry to establish the gaps in communication and co-ordination after the undetected beaching of MT Pavit.

Officials of the Directorate-General of Shipping will summon the crew of MT Pavit to confirm if the vessel,which now stands grounded at Juhu beach,is the same MT Pavit that they had abandoned on June 30 and was reported sunk by the UKMTO. At least one member of the 13-member crew will now be called to identify the vessel.

The office of the DG Shipping had initiated an inquiry to establish the gaps in communication and co-ordination after the undetected beaching of MT Pavit. It is now working to establish the possible conditions and route that the vessel would have taken before it entered the territorial waters of India. It’s still foxing us, said a senior DGS official involved in the probe,that a vessel has reached us like this. We’re still not able to understand the 100 hours it seems to have drifted undetected. While the security loopholes are matters that is best addressed by coastal securities,there seems to be something more to this vessel. The crew was rescued by the British navy and sent to Gujarat on June 30.

The agency is now working on a reverse probe with the first point of probe being the identification of the vessel. While UKMTO has already been asked to supply with the ‘source’ behind the ‘sunk’ status update on June 30,the agency has also asked the owners for an answer on the same. At our end,we have the crew who can at least identify the vessel and confirm that both the vessels are the same, said the official.

Meanwhile,the agency has begun simulating weather details along with information of tide and the direction of the drift to analyse the route that MT Pavit drifted in. A naval officer said,This information will actually help us understand which coastal patrol vessels Pavit could have evaded before any further action to be taken. The Coast Guard had updated the status of the vessel as ‘sunk’ on June 30 after the UKMTO had updated its status and removed the naval alert for Pavit.

MNS slams state over chinks in coast

The MNS on Friday lamblasted the state government over chinks in the coastal security system after unmanned ship MT Pavit drifted undetected on to Mumbai’s shoreline and cargo ship MV Rak sank off the coast sparking off environmental concerns. The party said this indicated the failure of the government machinery. Raising the issue in the Legislative Assembly on Friday,Nitin Sardesai of the MNS said the sinking of MV Rak,which was carrying cargo of coal,would create a threat to the environment and fishing. He said Pavit remained on the shore like MV Wisdom which had been grounded at Juhu beach earlier. Sardesai said while police should patrol the first five nautical miles of the coastline,it was the responsibility of the Coast Guard and Navy to patrol the rest.

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