MUMBAI, July 4: A Mystery ship with dancing lights visible in the twilight has been grounded 20 nautical miles off Kalam in Vasai, confounding the Customs, Coast Guard and locals who are crowding the shore for a glimpse of the apparition.Sighted by fishermen in the wee hours of Friday, the hulk bears the legend M V Meng Kiat on its starboard and houses as many as six-storeys on board. A Kalam villager told The Indian Express that the foreign merchant vessel must have been nudged towards the shore by choppy waters at midnight on Thursday as there was no vessel lurking there in the daytime.Customs and port authorities as well as the Coast Guard have been unable to get to the vessel due to the winds and swirling waters. But a close vigil is being maintained. Though lights were noticed on board the vessel late on Friday, there was no sign of life. Customs Inspector John Minj, who was tipped off by excited anglers from Nallasopara, says the fishermen saw two vessels signal to the Meng Kiat from abouttwo miles at sea. Half and hour later, they disappeared.``We are keeping a close watch on the vessel but 30 hours later, we have seen no sign of life but are in constant contact with our control room at Vasai for further instructions,'' Minj says. The Assistant Port Officer of Arnala port, the official authority at Kalam beach, is also in touch with the Coast Guard of the Indian Navy and has requested assistance, he adds. Coast Guard officials told The Indian Express they were told on Friday morning that the M V Meng Kiat was being towed by another ship, the M V Sigri, to Alang in Gujarat from Colombo in Sri Lanka.The master of the M V Sigri requested the Coast Guard for high-speed bunker oil as it was running low on fuel. But Coast Guard authorities say it could a deliberate attempt to jettison and abandon the ship off the Mumbai coast, which is fast becoming a junkyard for vessels.A Korean vessel, the M V Zhen Don, was allegedly set adrift in 1996. Today, it keeps a Ukranian ship, the MV Romanska, company. Both vessels arrived during a violent storm in June 1996. While mechanised saws now reduce the M V Zhen Don, grounded off the Bandra coast, to scrap, insistent waves lapping at the Worli seaface are gently taking the European vessel apart.
