Karwar/Mangaluru: The Coast Guard Ship (CGS) ‘Shoor,’ attached to the Mangaluru station of the Coast Guard, in a heroic midnight search and rescue operation, saved the lives of 14 Indian crewmen from merchant ship MV Infinity-1, which had reported water ingress off the Karwar coast on Wednesday evening.

Shoor escorted the ship in distress safely to the Karwar port on Friday morning. The rescue operation continued throughout the night by the Coast Guard Specialist Damage Control Team and averted a major tragedy at sea.

MT Infinity-1, an 83-metre-long tanker registered at Panama with 14 Indian crew on board, was carrying 1,750 tonnes of bitumen.

The vessel was on a voyage from the port of Kandla in Gujarat to Karwar, and anchored 20 nautical miles off the Goa coast, as she was not able to continue its voyage due to the uncontrollable ingress of water. The ship had sent a distress message to the Coast Guard.

After receiving initial assistance by naval ship INS Trinkat and CGS Amal, Shoor was directed to sail urgently for assistance. Shoor established communication with the vessel and a specialist team of eight members brought the flooding under control in MT Infinity-1, by 2 am on Friday.

Later, the ship’s crew was advised to proceed towards Karwar port. After the vessel was anchored off Karwar port a rescue team continued to drain out water from it.

On Friday morning, it arrived safely with 14 crew and cargo, at the Karwar port. Deputy Inspector General K R Suresh T M, the Coast Guard Commander of Karnataka told Express: “Shoor performed efficiently as expected by us and came beside the merchant ship within 30 minutes of receiving the distress call. Thanks to the brave jawans of the Coast Guard, the lives of the sailors was saved.”