Scientists and others on board the ocean research vessel, Sagar Sampada, had a terrific experience when fire broke out in the accommodation area while on sea, about 40 nautical miles off Mangaluru, on Friday night.
After the vessel was escorted to the New Mangalore Port on Saturday afternoon by the Indian Coast Guard Ship Vikram, the chief scientist at the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi, Sherine Sonia Cubelio thanked the coast guard personnel for rescuing all by dousing the fire.
“It is almost like a second life for all of us. We were very distressed, upset and disturbed. The coast guard personnel rescued us by putting their life at risk. It was a terrific experience,” she said.
Honey Pillai, senior scientist, Geological Survey of India, Kolkata, said that all came to the open place to rescue themselves from the fire.
Another scientist mentioned said that they were having a gettogether when the fire was noticed after 9 p.m. The scientist said that he was into ocean research for about eight years and it is for the first time he had encountered fire in a vessel.
Commandant Raj Kamal Sinha, who led the ICGS Vikram, said that after the fire broke out the temperate in the vessel touched 74 degree Celsius.
The ICGS Vikram was between 30-40 nautical miles away from the vessel and it took about two hours to reach the ship.
“About 30 personnel of the Indian Coast Guard, from its two ships, fought against the fire in three teams,” he said. The major fire was on the third deck.
“Our men worked hard,” he told a team of media when they visited the research vessel.
