Indian Navy provides assistance to stranded cargo ship in Gulf of Oman

The Indian Navy provided assistance to a stranded cargo ship with seven Indian crew members as it was drifting in the Gulf of Oman following failure of its propulsion and power generation systems, officials said on Friday.

The cargo ship was going from Oman to Iraq, they said.

The Indian Navy provided support to the stranded ship MV Nayan on Thursday after its frigate INS Talwar received a call from the cargo vessel requesting for technical assistance, the officials said.


INS Talwar was deployed in the Gulf of Oman.

They said the cargo ship was drifting at sea since March 9 owing to failure of its propulsion, power generation and navigational systems.

"Based on preliminary aerial assessment about the distress of MV Nayan, the Indian Naval ship dispatched its VBSS (Visit Board, Search and Seizure) team along with a technical team by boat to offer assistance to the vessel that had seven Indians as her crew," an Indian Navy spokesperson said.

The official said the naval teams worked continuously for seven hours on board MV Nayan to operationalise her key equipment such as generators, steering pump, sea water pump, compressor and main engine.

"The naval team also assisted in operationalising navigation equipment like GPS and navigation lights before MV Nayan could proceed for her next port," he said.