Title - Move to salvage tug boat

It will be taken to the Rameswaram port for anchoring : A team from Tuticorin, called “Shilpa Marine,” is expected to arrive at Palk Strait on Wednesday to salvage the tug boat, which remains stranded near the Pamban rail bridge after the barge it was towing crashed into the bridge on Sunday.Technical experts of the team visited the area where the tug boat with 10 crew members on board got caught in boulders close to the bridge after anchor failure, an official at the Pamban Port said.Shilpa Marine would be engaged in the operation as the 162 tonne twin-engine boat could not be pulled back by the mechanised fishing boats of local fishermen, the official said. “We have asked Titagarh Marine Ltd. to commence the operation immediately and it is expected to begin tomorrow,” he said.He recalled that representatives of Titagarh Marine visited the port office on January 9 and requested that two of their vessels, a tug boat and a barge which were on their way from Kolkotta to Karwar, be allowed to pass through the Pamban Rail bridge. They were asked to tell the captain that the two vessels should be anchored two nautical miles away from the bridge till they were permitted to cross the bridge in view of gusty winds. They assured to convey the same to the captain.The two vessels arrived on the night of January 9 but the port had no information, he said. On the next day, the port officials were shocked to see the tug boat grounded on the north eastern side off Pamban.

The captain claimed that both the vessels were anchored 2.7 nautical miles away from the bridge but the tug boat drifted and grounded due to high wind velocity.

On January 10, a salvage operation was launched with the help of five mechanised fishing boats.

Even as the operation was on, the barge ran aground, the official said. The operation came to an end on the night of January 11 when one of the fishermen, engaged in the operation, suffered a fracture in his leg. The operation was resumed on the morning of January 12 but the tug boat could not be salvaged.

Meanwhile, efforts were made to retrieve the barge, which ‘drifted’ close to the bridge on January 12 but the operation was suspended late in the evening as the fishermen refused to come for night duty. In the early hours of January 13, the barge crashed into the bridge, he said.

The port official blamed the crew members for remaining ‘mute’ spectators when the fishermen were fighting hard to retrieve the barge. At one stage, they could not even provide a rope, he said.

Once retrieved, the tug boat would be taken to the Rameswaram port for anchoring, he added.