Indian Coast Guard tows drifting oil tanker to safety

Chennai, Nov 22 : In a swift and coordinated sea-air operation on Sunday, Indian Coast Guard multi-mission vessel Vishwast towed to safety tanker MT Anasthasia-1 which was drifting dangerously towards Kachall island in the Nicobar Islands.
The Coast Guard said that Anasthasia-1, which was enroute to Dubai with 24 crew onboard, experienced a total power failure since Thursday and threatened the bio-sensitive ecology of the pristine Nicobar Islands.
The tanker had approximately 910 tons of bunker fuel.
On receipt of information by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Port Blair, a navigational warning was issued and international safety net was activated for alerting merchant mariners.
Meanwhile, a Coast Guard airplane from Campbell Bay was rushed for assessment of situation and Vishwast, which was on routine surveillance off Nicobar Islands, was also diverted to the spot.
A Coast Guard team boarded Anasthasia-1 and repaired the Fleet Broadband Communication equipment, made the Automatic Identification System operational and prepared the anchor chain cables of the vessel for manual lowering.