Coast Guard stabilises stricken chemical tanker off Paradip after engine failure

The Indian Coast Guard has stabilised a foreign chemical tanker that ran into trouble in the Bay of Bengal, roughly 37 nautical miles east-southeast of Paradip in Odisha, after its main engine failed and a ballast tank flooded rapidly.

The vessel, the Belize-flagged MT Seagull 9, was carrying 9,000 metric tonnes of palm oil with 23 crew members on board when it sent out an urgent distress call at about 7.30 a.m. on Sunday. The flooding had caused the ship to tilt dangerously, raising the risk of a capsize.

The Coast Guard ship Vishwast was dispatched to the scene, and a damage-control team boarded the unstable vessel in difficult conditions. Using submersible de-flooding pumps and damage-control equipment, the team arrested the leakage, sealed two damaged seawater pipelines and contained a third fractured line.

A pollution control vessel and an additional offshore patrol vessel were diverted to the location to support pollution response and maintain round-the-clock monitoring. Working alongside the tanker's crew, the team from Vishwast carried out cargo transfer and de-flooding simultaneously, steadying the vessel and removing the threat of it capsizing.

A Coast Guard Dornier aircraft was launched from Bhubaneswar to provide real-time aerial surveillance. A minor palm oil sheen spotted near the vessel on Sunday had fully dissipated by follow-up aerial sorties on Monday, and pollution-response protocols remain in place to protect the marine ecosystem.

The Paradip Port Authority tug Dolphin later took the stabilised tanker under tow towards the anchorage area off Paradip. Repairs to the main engine are under way with assistance from the technical team aboard the Vishwast.