Navy assists Norwegian ship in pirate-infested Gulf of Aden

Indian Naval ship 'Teg' assisted a Norwegian vessel with an all-Indian crew after its port anchor along with the entire 330 metres cable inadvertently slipped, thus restricting her speed and making it vulnerable in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, the Navy said today.

On August 25, while patrolling in the Gulf of Aden, INS Teg, a warship of the Western Naval Command, received a call from a Combined Task Force aircraft for providing assistance to MV Vela, a Norwegian owned ship.

"The vessel was in distress as her Port Anchor along with the entire 330 metres cable weighing approximately 42 tonnes had inadvertently slipped and was hanging into the sea. This had severely disabled the ship with her speed being restricted to 5-6 knots, thus making her vulnerable to piracy attacks, apart from being a navigational hazard for herself as well as for other ships in the dense shipping corridor," the Navy said in a statement.

INS Teg quickly dispatched a specialist team to carry out an assessment of the situation and provided assistance for recovery of the anchor and cable.

The team was led by the ship's engineering officer and other specialist officers, seamanship instructor, anchor chain cable specialist and machinery specialist.

"Concerted efforts over three days finally resulted in the successful recovery of the anchor along with the entire 330 metres of cable. This not only ensured onward safe voyage of MV Vela, which had to subsequently transit through the constricted waters of Red Sea and Suez Canal, but also averted a huge financial loss," the statement added.