Sinking of MV RAK
The Government has conducted enquiry into the sinking of carrier MV RAK of Mumbai Coast. This incident was dealt with as shipping casualty under the provision of Section 358 of Part XII of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958. Accordingly, Preliminary Inquiry into this shipping casualty was ordered by the Government under Section 359 (2) of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958. The inquiry has been completed by the Mercantile Marine Department, Mumbai, an allied office of the Directorate General of Shipping. It has been concluded that MV Rak carrier was on voyage from Singapore to Dahej. During the voyage, the vessel encountered several machinery breakdowns and also ingress of water in its cargo holds. No repairs to the machineries could be undertaken due to want of spare parts. The vessel reached off the coast of Mumbai on 19.7.2011 and was waiting for spare parts. However, due to increased ingress of water in the cargo holds, the vessel capsized on 4.8.2011. The primary cause of this accident is poor maintenance of the vessel and ineffective monitoring and support by the owners of the vessel.
To prevent recurrence of such incidence in future, steps such as inspection of foreign sub-standard ships visiting Indian ports through Port State Control mechanism, blacklisting the Protection & Indemnify Club of the ship for non-fulfilling its obligation towards preventing oil pollution & taking cleanup measures as well as marking the sunken vessel wreck by marking buoy for the purpose of warning the maritime traffic, have been taken.
This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in written reply to Shri Dushyant Singh in Lok Sabha today.
PK /NN