Visakhapatnam, October 29: The Indian Coast Guard on Thursday launched an operation to rescue the crew of a Singapore-bound bulk carrier stranded near the Ravva oilfield off the Kakinada coast in Andhra Pradesh, news agency IANS reported. The vessel, Sigma Pearl, sails under the Marshall Islands flag and was stranded while navigating through the Ravva oilfield in the Krishna-Godavari Basin after suffering engine failure.

The Coast Guard deployed a helicopter and a vessel for the rescue, with personnel using the helipad at Mogalthur village in West Godavari district, IANS said. Offshore patrol vessel Sujay was also sent towards the stranded ship. According to IANS, the ship has six crew members and suffered engine failure while returning to Singapore after unloading at Visakhapatnam port.

Source: IANS via Hi India

The vessel had departed Visakhapatnam port at around 12.17 am on October 27, as Cyclone Arnab was approaching Yanam before making landfall in the early hours of October 28 — a landfall Awaaz Punjab reported earlier this week. The ship-tracking portal MarineTraffic showed the vessel's status as out of range, IANS reported, and local authorities in West Godavari district were assisting the Coast Guard operation.

Maritime reporting on the grounding, citing the Visakhapatnam Port Authority's account to the Deccan Herald, said the 32,688-deadweight-tonne bulker, built in 2010 and 180 metres long, had unloaded sulfur at Visakhapatnam and was attempting to reach Singapore when it developed propulsion problems, began to drift and was driven aground by high wind and surf from the approaching storm. The reports said the crew was uninjured and that authorities would survey the grounded vessel and plan its salvage once the storm abated.

Source: The Maritime Executive via Balitang Marino

Very severe cyclonic storm Arnab crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast in the early hours of October 28 with maximum sustained winds of 125-135 kmph gusting to 150 kmph, according to the India Meteorological Department, and weakened into a severe cyclonic storm after crossing. The Coast Guard has not yet announced the completion of the crew rescue, and the condition of the stranded vessel will be assessed after the survey.