Arcadia doubles its search for bodies

MUMBAI, June 26: Arcadia Shipping have begun a concerted effort utilising hired divers and salvage vessels to locate bodies of 19 personnel...

int(3)

MUMBAI, June 26: Arcadia Shipping have begun a concerted effort utilising hired divers and salvage vessels to locate bodies of 19 personnel of its vessel the M V Arcadia Pride that sank over 7 miles off the city last Thursday.

Two days ago, the Coast Guard withdrew its offshore patrol vessels from the area and have now limited the searches to aerial sorties by helicopters and Dornier aircraft.

“We want to expedite the process of recovering the bodies so that compensation can be paid to the kin of the deceased,” Mukesh N Shah, managing director of Arcadia Shipping told Express Newsline. Failure to recover the bodies of the crew could delay the compensation in the case of missing persons.

Story continues below this ad

Compensation is to be disbursed sometime next week after `presumably dead’ certificates were issued and the company has even resolved to set up a trust to bear the education expenditure of the children of the deceased crew.

However, strong sea currents and near-zero visibility in the murky waters have hindered salvage operations now being conducted by the Samudrika-4, an offshore supply vessel hired from the ONGC and a diving vessel with a team of specialist divers.

“The divers have been given the task of entering the ship’s accommodation section and recover the bodies. They have been diving since last Friday without any success,” an Arcadia official stated.

Five persons were killed and 19 are missing after the Indian-flagged vessel toppled over and sank in rough weather while at anchor off the coast.

Story continues below this ad

The Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) commenced its inquiry into the tragedy on Monday even as the diving teams from private offshore agencies began work on locating bodies.

Shah claimed that two specialist divers of the first batch of eight hired by Arcadia were injured in the diving operation. “They got entangled with the derricks of the sunken ship.” A second batch of divers went to the scene of the tragedy on Wednesday morning with a second offshore supply vessel to relieve the first batch.

Though a shift in the Arcadia’s cargo of 12,000 tonnes of sulphur is believed to have been the cause of the disaster, the survivors of the Arcadia have not ruled out the possibility of the ship hitting a sunken wreck while it was changing its position in the rough weather.

The ship’s Chief Officer Vinay Malani said that at least 12 persons on board could have saved themselves if they had reacted quickly.

Story continues below this ad

“Some of the crew on the rapidly sinking vessel, including the entire five-man catering department were holding onto the ship’s railings. However, they refused to jump. This cost them their life.” Five of the Arcadia’s nine survivors recall having warned at least one person to flee the ship. None of them took the advice seriously.