ONGC facility escapes repeat of ‘05 tragedy
Barely days after Oil and Natural Gas Corp marked the first anniversary of a devastating fire at one of its platforms in the Mumbai offshore, another disaster was averted when an alert company team prevented a merchant ship from colliding with a s...
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: Barely days after Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) marked the first anniversary of a devastating fire at one of its platforms in the Mumbai offshore, another disaster was averted when an alert company team prevented a merchant ship from colliding with a similar facility.
A merchant ship MV OEL Vision on Sunday evening faced complete power and engine failure and gradually drifted towards rig RONTAP MAYER located at Platform ZB in the Mumbai High field, company sources said.
"The ship was 4.5 nautical miles from the rig RONTAP MAYER located at platform ZB. The direction of the Drift was towards this rig," an ONGC official said.
The rig declared emergency at 2030 hrs and gave a call for evacuation of its personnel.
SOS was relayed to several vessels including Samudra Sevak to move to the location to control the crisis. The Coast Guard too was alerted.
The official OEL Vision was instructed to drop its anchor to arrest the drift. Another anchor was dropped subsequently as one was found insufficient to hold the vessel.
"MV OEL VISION is now stable at 3.5 nautical miles from RONTAP MAYER. The Vessel resumed emergency power at 2155 hrs on July 30, and is in the process of ballasting. Tugboats have been deployed for towing the vessel," the official said.
Former ONGC chairman Subir Raha was refused extension of services in May this year holding him responsible for the July 27 collision of a vessel with the Mumbai High platform, in which 26 people were killed and the platform destroyed.
As was the case last year, ONGC teams worked round-the- clock to evacuate a total of 77 people from the platform. "Last year, we saved some 400 lives and this year we averted another major tragedy," the official said.
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