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28 crewmembers of stricken Indian ship to abandon it
The 28 Indian crew members onboard a crippled bulk cargo freighter were preparing to abandon the ship in stormy seas and fierce winds as a rescue vessel neared it.
The 28 Indian crew members onboard a crippled bulk cargo freighter were preparing to abandon the ship in stormy seas and fierce winds as a rescue vessel neared it.
The crew of the ship in distress APJ Suryavir planned to abandon the ship and board a rescue freighter expected to arrive later tonight, US Coast Guard officials said.
All the crewmembers were reported safe, with no injuries among those on board and the ship was not taking on water, the officials said.
A US Coast Guard C-130 Hercules plane overflew the distressed ship to keep watch on the vessel, which is adrift in the stormy north Pacific about 870 kms southwest of Alaska's Adak Island.
The Coast Guard officials said that a private commercial ship, the Maersk Altair, was heading towards the stricken Indian ship.
The officials said that stormy weather had been forecast for the next few days.
Suryavir was coming from China and possibly headed towards Portland in the US when the engine of the 740-foot almost empty freighter failed.
"There are 28 persons on board. The entire crew is Indian. They are all safe as of now," Ray Dwyer, Command Duty Officer at Rescue Coordinator Centre, US Coast Guard, Juneau, Alaska, told PTI over phone.
"They have no cargo on board," he said, adding that this makes the ship imbalanced. However, the ship has now put seawater in its tanks to add some weight.
