AUGUST 8: The uncleared wrecks of seven vessels including barges and tugs littering the sensitive inner anchorage area of Mumbai port finally proved deadly. On Thursday, an unidentified wreck ripped open a gash two-meters high and half-a-meter wide in the side of an anchored Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) vessel.

The MV `Vishva Nandini' immediately began taking water into its engine room and its stern sank and touched the bottom of the channel. Efforts are on by the navy and the SCI to salvage the ship by welding the crack and pumping out water. ``With sunken wrecks accumulating in the inner anchorage, you never know which one can seriously damage your vehicle,'' a merchant navy captain explained.

The SCI ship, which was anchored at the berth F-2, is feared to have struck one of the two nearby wrecks which have fouled the E-3 and E-4 berths. While the E-3 is fouled by the wreck of an overloaded Essar barge which sank in the port in June last year, E-4 marks the grave of the Sindhu VII, an ONGC supply vessel which sank in the harbour while being towed in after an accident off Bombay High. To compound matters, a buoy marking the position of the Essar barge had cut loose and was adrift on July 4 this year.

``The ship made contact with an underwater object. We have become aware of the presence of two wrecks in the immediate vicinity of the vessel,'' SCI CMD P K Srivastav told Express Newsline. He added that efforts were focussed on retrieving the ship. An enquiry into the incident would be ordered soon after all the water had been pumped out and the ship towed away, he informed. The ship had arrived in Mumbai port from Durban on Sunday and was awaiting a berth for cargo discharge. She was carrying a 9600-tonne cargo when she struck a wreck. ``The incident is extremely serious since it occurred in the MBPT's inner anchorage area. Since the port charges anchorage fees it is their responsibility to keep the channel free of such wrecks,'' said a senior Ministry of Surface Transport official.

The daily shipping list brought out by the MBPT, indicating the status of all vessels in the harbour, mentions at least five other wrecks in the port limits. Submerged and uncleared wrecks include ships like the `Moonlight Glory' which sank over six years ago, a barge `Satyam' which sank in April last year and the wreck of a dredger `Vishal' which sank two years ago. All the port trust has been able to do was to tow the wreck of the Satyam away from the main channel.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.