After 24 hours of agonising wait, a Port Blair-bound passenger ship belonging to the Shipping Corporation of India, stranded about 14 nautical miles off the coast following a snag, was asked to return to the Visakhapatnam Port for repairs.
The vessel m.v. Harshavardhana , was held up for six hours after it left the Visakhapatnam Port on Tuesday evening with about 500 passengers on board, mostly labour from North Andhra Pradesh and South Odisha.
Confirming the late evening decision to bring the ship back to Visakhapatnam for repairs, director of A.V. Bhanoji Row & Garuda Pattabhiramayya & Co., agents for SCI vessels in the city, A.V. Monish Row said the vessel would resume its voyage once the repair was completed.
Visakhapatnam Port Deputy Chairman P.L. Haranadh earlier said they had informed the Andaman & Nicobar Islands administration about the situation and asked it to order the return of the ship to the port for repairs, instead of subjecting the passengers to more agony.
Passengers panicThe sudden decision to halt the ship mid-sea created panic among the passengers. After the crew noticed that one of the four generators stopped functioning, a decision was taken to anchor the ship near the port area after informing the passengers that they would return to Visakhapatnam.
“We had a sleepless night as the ship crew first said the engine developed a snag, and later clarified that one of the generators had become defunct,” Setti Ramana, who ekes out a living as an auto-driver in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, told The Hindu .
Laxman Rao of Vizianagaram said the management did not make arrangements for food for the stranded passengers. They were forced to buy food from the canteen, he added.
