Ship collision: Cops retrieve all evidence

An FIR was lodged at the Yellow Gate police station against MV Nordlake at the initiation of Lt. Commander Sunil Chaturvedi of the Indian Navy on January 31 and a case was registered against the merchant vessel.

DCP (Port) Quaiser Khalid said the police had recorded the statements of the captain of INS Godavari as the probe had found that INS Godavari must not have stuck to the convoy formation.

Sources said the collision showed it was not MV Sea Eagle that created the communication confusion leading to the collision,but INS Godavari,which was returning to the naval dockyard that day. “We have submitted the communication recording data from all the three ships for analysis and will soon find out who was at fault,” said Khalid.

Meanwhile,INS Vindhyagiri that was reported as “sitting on the seabed” in the naval dockyard has not yet been moved out. A spokesperson for the Indian Navy said salvage operations were in progress. “Water is being pumped out of the compartments of the ship to make it lighter and buoyant. She has not yet been moved out.”